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BACpress: Increasing population growth and high consumerism in cities have led to more integration in the design of smart cities to provide a sustainable future.
“The major challenges of the twenty first century include the rapid growth of many cities and the decline of others, the expansion of the informal sector, and the role of cities in causing or mitigating climate change. Evidence from around the world suggests that contemporary urbanplanning has largely failed to address these challenges.” Global Report on Human Settlements 2009, Planning Sustainable Cities Foreword by Ban Ki-Moon Secretary General, United Nations.
Over half of the planet’s population now lives in cities. This figure is predicted to rise to more than 70% by the second half of the century, a figure made even more startling by the fact that the human population will have increased by two billion in the same time-frame.
Definition smart cities
“Smart cities” is defined in PAS 180: 2014 Smart Cities. Vocabulary as ‘…the effective integration of physical, digital and human systems in the built environment to deliver a sustainable, prosperous and inclusive future for its citizens.’
Smart cities optimise the use of technology in the design and operation of infrastructure and buildings in a way which meets the current and future needs of their citizens. Truly smart citiesshould be about more than just harnessing technology; they require consideration of governance and growth, urban development and infrastructure, the environment and natural resources, society and community. (Ref Buro Happold:Defining and benchmarking SMART citiy)
Some experts believe that the notion of smart cities has been overly driven by hi-tech companies. There are a number of reasons for this:
♦The enthusiasm of high-tech companies to identify solutions that their own hardware and software can offer inefficient cities.
♦Practitioners (architects, planners and especially engineers) failing to engage properly in the debate. Engineers are singled out here as the profession that historically has held the role of harnessing emergent science and technology to improve the environment.
♦A lack of understanding at the municipal leadership level.
The relationship between Smart Cities and the Living City
Given this situation and the belief by some that the planning, design and construction of future cities requires an integrated approach to achieve successful outcomes, alternative terminology has been suggested. The term ‘The Living City’ refers to an approach in which technologyplays an important but nevertheless supporting role (Ref Buro Happold: The Living City).
Read the second part of the text here: Design smart city / Part II
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