Introduction
The concept of a "smart city" has been gaining momentum in recent years as urban areas worldwide seek innovative ways to enhance the quality of life for their residents, reduce environmental impact, and improve overall efficiency. Smart cities leverage technology and data to optimize various aspects of urban living, from transportation and infrastructure to healthcare and sustainability. In this article, we'll explore seven remarkable smart cities from around the world that are at the forefront of this urban revolution.
As the population of the world is increasing rapidly, people's lifestyles are also changing rapidly.
According to the United Nations, 70 percent of the world's population will be urban dwellers in the next few decades. In other words, the facilities of all the countries of the world will be developed in the coming days. However, now the picture is completely different.
Some cities in the world are dealing with population explosion and presenting examples of poverty and wretchedness, while some countries are rapidly transforming their cities into smart cities by adopting smart technology.
In our country too, from time to time there is talk of making various cities, including the capital, smart cities. After all, what is a smart city? What are the criteria? What is the lifestyle of people living in a smart city? How much effort should the developing and developing countries have to make the lifestyle of their cities world-class?
What makes a city smart?
According to the World Urban Forum, although there are more than 10,000 cities in the world, there are only a few that can be called smart cities. Here the question arises as to what are the qualities that make a city smart.
Actually, there are different standards for making a city smart. Such as basic structure i.e. physical structure, digital connection, balance of environment and development, availability of sufficient resources of education-medical and green energy resources, modern transportation etc.
In a smart city, plans are made based on people's data, plans are made to improve services based on those data in citizen welfare and government services. The most important thing is the digital data of people from which only identity is strengthened Even the benefit of the public welfare program is enough to reach the right and targeted people.
Why the need for smart cities?
According to the United Nations report, there will be a big change in the world's population and lifestyle. By 2050, 70 percent of the population will live in urban areas due to urbanization, industrialization and migration of people from rural areas. In other words, the urban population will increase by two and a half billion in the next three decades.
Essential facilities such as food, affordable housing, education, medicine, electricity, cooking fuel, and transportation will have to be provided for such a large population. Gathering so many things in such a large amount for billions of people is not possible without technology. Therefore, the concept of smart city is developing all over the world.
How smart is the smart city lifestyle?
In fact, any city becomes smart when it rapidly adopts technology in its day-to-day operations. Singapore's University of Technology and Design evaluates the world's cities based on the economy, adoption of technology and the lifestyle of citizens, and classifies how smart a city is.
Cities like Singapore, Norway's Oslo, Finland's Helsinki, Switzerland's Zurich come on top in the list of the world's best smart cities. After all, the lifestyle there has changed so much that those cities were able to provide a smart lifestyle to their residents. After all, how does it work there and what future plans are they working on? Let's know about 7 smart cities of the world:
1. Amsterdam city full of smart features:
The story of the capital city of the Netherlands, which is famous for reclaiming land from the sea and establishing its own settlements, is very different. The Smart City project was started in 2009 in the city of Amsterdam. In which an initiative was taken to make the city smart by connecting 170 types of service facilities together. Technological innovation has been incorporated in every work so that people's lives are easier and people have access to every facility at home. For that, the use of electric trucks to collect garbage was started.
A convenient bus stop operated by solar energy was built and billboard lights were installed. To solve the problem of land shortage, a floating village was prepared, that is, a settlement was established by building houses on boats. The energy needs of various business companies started to be fulfilled through solar energy. Automatic street lights were installed. Also, the use of ultra low energy LED lights was promoted for energy saving.
2. Seoul's effort to make people smart with Smart City:
Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world. Seoul has used digital data in the best way to make the city smart. Traffic flow and vehicle speed data are collected and automatic control signals are placed in every area. Surveillance through CCTV has been increased to prevent violation of traffic rules. As a result, traffic management costs have been reduced and road safety has increased.
Sensors have been used to measure air quality and the information of such air measuring devices reaches the common people directly. With this, people can adopt green energy and less polluting lifestyle in the situation of increasing pollution and become aware of their health. In order to ensure that all residents have access to technology, common people were appealed to contribute by participating in the mobile phone donation campaign.
A discount was also arranged for those who donate their mobile phone to a needy person on the purchase of a new phone. With this, a large part of the population in Seoul suddenly got the facility of mobile phones. It became easy to reach information, education and other facilities to common people.
To ensure the safety of elderly people, they were connected through a mobile app and started monitoring them regularly. Arrangements were made to bring health facilities to their homes and monitoring of various health parameters was started from mobile phones. In case of emergency, from where to get help immediately
Available through the mobile app itself. Seoul police also resort to technology based on artificial intelligence for crime control so that possible crime modules can be monitored and such symptoms can be identified and crime can be controlled in time. In the list of cities in the world that use 5G technology in transportation, Sio comes second in the world.
3. Singapore changing lifestyles with smart solutions
Singapore started implementing a comprehensive plan in 2014 to make its cities smart. For this, the adoption of technology in the public and private sectors was emphasized. The contactless payment system was adopted everywhere in the city and initially it was applied to 7.5 million people using the transport system in the country. Entering old age
A digital health system was launched to make the life of the population easier and they can get direct video consultation of doctors and other health facilities at home. In order to facilitate the monitoring of patients' health, equipment and internet facilities were made cheaper. Singapore announced a new Eco Smart City in 2021 with the aim of making the city completely free of private polluting vehicles.
Its goal is to make transportation completely public and based on green energy technology. Forest City, located in the western region of Singapore, was planned to house 42,000 people in a perfect balance of modern technology and environment. There are specially developed facilities for pedestrians and bicycle users.
4. The secret of Helsinki topping the happiness index :
The city of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, which ranks first in the world in the world happiness index, set a big goal to become a smart city. The city plans to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2035. Even within the next 12 years, the city is working towards the goal of reducing emissions from traffic by 69 percent.
All bus systems in the city have been converted to electric buses. Electric car charging stations have been built everywhere, while the metro system has been developed and the transportation system of the city has been rapidly changed. Emphasis has been placed on increasing the use of green energy sources in residential buildings and the use of new technologies in the construction of buildings.
The work has been done to make the life of the citizens easier through the pension of senior citizens, home health check-up and modern health monitoring system.
Helsinki is rapidly changing itself. Therefore, the lifestyle there is considered to be the most balanced lifestyle in the world and because of the excellent service facilities, people from all over the world want to come and live in this Scandinavian city.
5. City of Zurich with sensor technology and smart building
management system :
The city of Zurich in Switzerland is an example for smart facilities. This city ranks fourth in the world in terms of quality of life. Zurich has developed its system differently than other cities in the world by focusing on reducing the digital divide and facilitating the lives of ordinary citizens through waste recycling, green energy, digital security, excellent healthcare facilities, modern education facilities.
A special plan has been launched to make street lights smart in the city. All roads in the city are equipped with sensor-operated street lights that turn on and off automatically according to the traffic. On the one hand, it provides full light when there are many vehicles on the road and when there is less traffic, it provides less light as needed. After the use of this system, the energy consumed in street lights has decreased by 70 percent.
Sensor technology has been used in an excellent manner to measure and direct traffic activity, while public Wi-Fi antennas have been installed.
A smart building management system has been adopted for technical facilities in residential areas. In which the system of smart management of basic facilities such as arrival-departure control, security monitoring, power supply, water, sanitation, waste management etc. has been developed.
6. Oslo adopting electric vehicle technology:
Most of the vehicles in the city have been converted to electric vehicles and a target has been set to replace all vehicles in the city with electric vehicles within the next 2 years.
Various facilities have been announced by the city administration for vehicles that do not spread pollution. In which concessions like free parking, charging stations in places, right to use bus lanes, reduction in road and taxes have been given.
The goal is to make Oslo zero carbon emissions in the next 25 years. In addition, modern waste management systems in buildings and measures to increase the use of green energy have also been adopted.
7. The story of New York, the richest and most modern city:
New York City of America is not only the richest city in the world but also the most modern city.
After all, what is the characteristic of this city, due to which its lifestyle becomes like a dream for people from other parts of the world? With the start of the Smart City project in New York, hundreds of sensor facilities were arranged on all the streets of the city and the use of technology began.
Data collection and management system for waste collection and recycling was created which has helped to keep the city clean.
Apart from this, New York City has also become a smart hub for contactless technology. In addition to providing Wi-Fi facilities, an online charging station was opened in place of the phone booth.
Car sharing facilities were started which provided people with cheap transportation facilities and also helped in traffic management and reducing carbon emissions.
People come up with creative concepts for urban management and for this every year a competition is held on apps and data where people themselves participate in those works.
Along with the mentioned seven smart cities, which are rapidly changing, many other countries of the world are also working on their innovative urban systems.
Mexico's Smart Forest City, Japan's Underwater City, Maldives' Floating City etc. are examples of this. Those cities have been designed in such a way that the residents can enjoy natural life and modernity at the same time.
There is also a concept of transportation that we have seen only in movies. In addition to this, there should be modern facilities for monitoring energy distribution in the city so that it becomes beneficial from the point of view of health and energy conservation and the work of urban management can also be done easily with the help of technology.
Conclusion
