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Evolving Trends: Smart Cities

evolving trends smart cities

The harsh reality of the market today can become a catalyst to drive innovation.  Developers, builders and manufacturers alike are looking for ways to not only sustain business, but growth.  Though there is much speculation on how to achieve such sustainable business, many have contemplated going the way of cost-effective measures, both front and back end, passing savings onto consumers.  The other, is to deliver innovative new technologies that few can compete against, that eventually finds itself a necessity.

Smart cities could be the next generation of urban living, combining task management, configurable living spaces, interactive homes and task management.  The technology is so new, it is not yet feasible wide scale anytime soon, and only a few planned sites are being planned.

Smart cities may most likely become implemented slowly, with new technologies introduced slowly into the marketplace, similar to the evolution of the internet, which will play an incremental role, allowing the integration of data.  The beginnings of some of this technology are starting to take form in many people’s homes already.  Programmable home settings, remote home access, limited configurable spaces and sensory lighting & environment.

Several years ago, I remember watching a documentary about a new technology in paint that allowed people to paint their homes with this “smart paint.”  The paint itself functioned as a “monitor” allowing you to move your display anywhere on the wall, desk, ceiling, and was interactive and functioned as a touch screen.  In turn, the paint could change colors, display wallpaper as you would on your current computer, or function as an extension of one of your smart devices.  Imagine waking up to a different scene on your walls every morning – you could wake up in Marrakech one day, Nice the next, Miami the day after… even the surface of the moon could be a downloadable setting like you would on your smartphone today.  As some innovation goes, the technology is also being developed to further military applications in camouflaging.

Such technology will not be economical, especially for the first several years, but may prove to be highly desirable for the benefits users can gain.  Thus, implementation will be slow, especially in existing cities where the architecture will be harder to deploy.  It may take another housing boom decades from now to incorporate into existing homes.  With that, the city itself will need to transform, as well as businesses, offices and service providers who would need to access such information about the user.  Deployment may first arrive for digital applications, then intelligent applications where problem solving may be a part of the software; When to schedule a doctor’s visit, when to do groceries, address scheduling or even plan upcoming event.

This could further cause concerns of privacy, but this technology could be hugely favorable with younger residents who have grown accustomed living their lives on the web, via Facebook, Twitter and many other social media sites and blogs.

Beyond privacy, archiving, protection of data, policies and monitoring, and perhaps even regulation from the government may be needed.  It will take partnerships and joint research efforts in both creating, developing and marketing such technologies to consumers.

On a micro-level, smart cities will directly impact how residents live.  Residents could possibly live in smaller multi-functional spaces.  Multipurpose rooms would be reconfigured as needed.  This will impact both material consumption and energy use, leading to the further development on green technology.  In existing cities, where data lines and infrastructure may not be able to manage the entire city, smart communities may be born where specific buildings address the infrastructure, software and data needs of its residents.  This will inevitably also introduce smart technology to more people on a mass scale as well as centralization of the first few buildings.  We are already seeing the rise of “New Urbanism” or centralization of neighborhoods which could play a role in how these first few buildings area created.

Many existing high-rises today already label themselves as their own community, having schools, shopping, doctors, and entertainment all within.  The first few smart buildings could directly promote New Urbanism as well and may lead vertical growth (vertical farming) versus sprawl.

Ayesha Khanna in an interview with McKinsey Quarterly dives further on the development of Smart Cities as well as discusses plans for these cities in South Korea, India, Portugal and China (China planning approximately 30 cities to utilize this technology) as well as shares her thoughts on the role smart cities will play in our lives.

The future indeed is exciting, but learning from the current housing market and the previous rise and fall of technology companies, it will be important how technology is implemented, received on the marketplace and how fast demand grows.

So what are the first signs?

So what are the first signs?  They may already be here.  We have been in the age of the internet revolution and digital information for years now.  So much so that many industries have been financially troubled by this revolution.  Formats such as printed media are under continual struggle finding ways to protect content based information, piracy and multitudes of websites competing for the same user base.

Digital media that have threatened some industries have furthered advances in others.  In some ways, the digital age allowed people to store everything from their music, to books, to movies, to archiving photos and financial records.  However, with the aid of the internet, digital media has gone beyond just storing paper files and entertainment media.  Friends are now recommended to us.  Our driving itinerary can be updated in seconds to account for accidents, street closures or even busy streets.  Documents are worked on remotely and can even be collaborated on by an entire team, none of whom are located in the same place.

Smart cities will further pattern behavior, recognition and would not only recommend places to eat Friday evening, but also suggest type of cuisine based on past patterns and remind us when to go to the doctor or dentist because of our diet.  But smart cities will go beyond just the algorithms, code and software.  Hardware, devices and peripherals will become important for the growth and introduction of smart cities on a larger scale.

Many of us experience this already with our phones and cars.  Bluetooth has already become a standard in the marketplace today, connecting headsets, phones, cars, and even our gaming systems to each other.  Connectivity is integral to a smart city, especial technology that is able to transmit large packets of information quickly and securely.

Smart cities will be heavily more interactive than the most expensive smart phone today, and perhaps more persuasive than even the most adamant mother.  By integrating features such as a scale, breath analyzer, blood pressure and eye movement, the potential of smart cities can be untapped.

Too tired to drive, or too much to drink?  Access to vehicles could be temporarily prohibited.  Unusually high blood pressure, perhaps an automatic trip to the doctor while your car calls in sick for you is what the doctor ordered.

But would such technology act as a convenience or enhancement to lifestyle?  And would it be worth it and at what cost?  Just as consumers purchase cases, protectors, earphones for their phone and devices, it could very well be hardware that furthers smart technology into the general public.

Tomorrow versus Today:

 

Cities of tomorrow will fast ongoing troubles that we face today.  The introduction of fully integrated smart cities will be through smart buildings.  Development would face the same planning obstacles a typical building being constructed today would face.  Because space is not limitless, new developments, as they are today, would be faced with available square footage to build and related zoning requirements.  Hence, the first generation of smart buildings constructed in existing cities would be smaller high rises (a high rise in Chicago, for example, is six stories or more).  Height and scale would also be impacted by the cost of building such a building on a large scale, without the technology being tested to consumer response.

Smart cities and their building counterparts represent the next generation of living, thus, energy use, best land use, environmental concerns will need to be addressed on a whole new level.  Innovation and partnership with organizations in green technology will be vital.  Due to the amount of data, integration and computing needed, energy costs would be extremely high which could result in higher living costs as well as adding to the carbon footprint of the building, which be at higher levels than a conventional building of the same size and population density.

With cities and buildings both already integrated into a computer system, it would be fairly easy to manage energy use.  However, effective energy monitoring will not save on the carbon footprint nor make use of the integrated systems to the best of their capabilities.

Many of the technology specializing in renewable and sustainable technology exist today. Ability to track the sun and wind could be programmed into the existing infrastructure.  Water management could monitor water reserve, use and run-off.  The biggest obstacle would be the added upfront cost consideration, some of which is starting to become more affordable as more research and development is performed in the industry.

As the technology becomes more developed and cost effective, smart buildings would start growing, perhaps competing with other skyscrapers in existing cities today.  However until the technology is widespread enough to be in demand and costs for such residences more affordable, the first generation building may be isolated for luxury living.

Beyond energy and costs, another problem smart cities and buildings will face is an on-going issue faced by many today.  With the amount of sensitive data and information being transmitted, finding ways to safeguard such information will be extremely vital.  Medical history, personal data, day to day schedule, contact information, financial information could all be integrated into such systems.  Hence, builders will want to partner with IT professionals and security experts.  It is possible that many parts of the system will be in a closed system to minimize exploits and potential hacks.  But as the way information is collected, stored and transmitted, new ways to exploit and secure them as well as will be an on-going challenge.

Leveraging Opportunity:

In many ways, smart cities with their soft and hard architecture will present numerous opportunities for both builders and residents.  Leveraging such opportunities can help reduce waste, carbon footprint and even create business opportunities if you know where to look.

With the computing needs of such homes, it should not be farfetched that some buildings / cities will have their own on-site computers.  With the amount of computer power available, it could very well be possible that cities and buildings utilize their systems for cloud computing, especially during off peak hours.  Cloud computing, however, would be more ideal in smart cities, versus buildings where available computer resources are more significant.  This could help leverage the cost of either assessments (for building residents with on-site computers) or supplement property taxes.

The current housing market and number of foreclosures have led to many properties being torn down and turned into neighborhood gardens.  With smart technology, gardens could be planted on rooftops, garden spaces or other ideal location and monitored by the computer systems.  The scheduling of water, planting, and even turning on additional lights, if necessary, would use up little resources and can easily be managed on-site, and use less resources than hiring a full time gardener.  In return, green roofs could potentially lower heating costs, provide a locally sourced food and even enjoyment for residents.

Sherwin is a REALTOR® in the Chicago & Suburban area with @properties. Questions can be forwarded to Sherwin Sucaldito. Originally posted at Realty Evolved

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Sherwin L. Sucaldito, REALTOR®, GREEN, ABR, CRPM
@properties
The Institute of Luxury Home Marketing
Green REsource Council, GREEN
Accredited Buyer’s Representative , ABR
Certified Residential Property Manager, CRPM

Evolving Trends: Smart Cities” by Sherwin Sucaldito is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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