Smart City - Future Planning

A smart city is an urban development vision to integrate multiple information and communication technology (ICT) solutions in a secure fashion to manage a city’s assets – the city’s assets include, but not limited to, local departments information systems, schools, libraries, transportation systems, hospitals, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement, and other community services.

The goal of building a smart city is to improve quality of life by using technology to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs. ICT allows city officials to interact directly with the community and the city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city, how the city is evolving, and how to enable a better quality of life. Through the use of sensors integrated with real-time monitoring systems, data are collected from citizens and devices - then processed and analysed. The information and knowledge gathered are keys to tackling inefficiency.

This article is all about the future planning of a city. Here I've suggested a few ideas that can help in paving the ways for a city's future. Suggestions/Opinions/Thoughts are always welcome in the comments section.

Smart electric meters which monitors electricity consumption and logs to a database. It will automatically turn on/off depending on the dues from the customer. Customers can pay online through an all in one app which I'll be mentioning later in this post.

Running the entire city on renewable energy will help in reducing costs, pollution, etc. Use of fossil fuels should be minimised as much as possible. Having solar panels on trains, stations, houses, metro, etc.. Terrace gardening on every buildings.

Smart waste management system which segregates waste automatically and also follows 3 R's (Recycle, Reuse and Reduce). Having a centralised sewer treatment system will be very much effective in preventing diseases and keeping the city clean.

Street lights should be LED based and must be fitted with CCTVs at uniform distance (at every camera's blind spot) as this can help in reducing the crime rate. Street lights should be having the motion sensing capabilities which turn on the camera and lights automatically. They should be made to turn on automatically depending on the amount of light in that spot and people movement.

Fast and secure WiFi everywhere in the city. This is very much needed for remote monitoring and connecting with everyone. WiFi can be placed in hidden locations like dustbins, trees, etc..
Having elevators and foot bridge in all major crossings on the road as well as train platforms and zebra crossings in minor crossings on the road.

Having smart vehicles with GPS and emergency measures (video calling, etc.) on all public vehicles- buses, trains, taxi, etc. to track movement, find shortest route of travel, monitor traffic, etc..

Improving the city by transferring slums into green Eco-places. Improving living conditions in slums. Having separate pathways for walking and cycling. Promoting sanitation and hygiene. Making toilets in public places. Strict enforcement of rules and fines. Gas and  water pipelines to houses. Permeable roads so that water can seep into the soil easily instead of being stagnant. Recycling books from rich to poor schools. Improving schools and educational system. Planting trees.

Using smart signals which have AI (Artificial Intelligence) for smooth traffic flow. Alert system for attacks, floods, fire, etc..  Using IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

An AIO (All In One) app which is user friendly for the citizens through which they can lodge complaints, access govt services, access bills, book tickets, promoting commute sharing, crowd sourcing ideas and opinions, polls, etc..

Taking ideas and suggestions from citizens through the AIO app and also implementing strategies which have been implemented in other cities is one main thing in making cities better.

Cochin International Airport is the only and first airport in the world to run entirely on renewable energy (Solar Energy). Running all commercial establishments on renewable energy will help a lot in conserving energy, make the environment greener, reducing costs and pollution, etc..

Well, that's the end of my suggestions. Suggestions/Opinions/Thoughts are always welcome in the comments section.