‍Introduction

The technological revolution has led to a more productive life with a lower crime rate and a higher standard of living. Natural disasters, theft, and other threats to our safety are lowered more than double because cities are becoming smart and safer. How so?

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What is a smart city?

You may have heard of this term before that some popular cities are called smart cities. But what does that mean? The term “smart city” is a framework that is predominantly composed of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to develop, deploy, and promote sustainable development practices to facilitate urban planning. Behind this is an intelligent network of connected objects and machines that transmits data through the Internet called the Internet of Things, or IoT. 

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Why do we need smart cities?

Urbanization is a non-stop phenomenon. The growing population in urban cities, either through natural birth or immigration from rural areas and abroad, can lead to increased crimes and disasters from clustered carbon footprints. To keep the population happy and thriving, authorities in these areas need to be more flexible and agile in implementing changes and launching swift initiatives, achievable with IoT.

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Applications of IoT in smart cities

Now that you know what smart cities are, how do we achieve them? How is this technology of the future going to impact urban challenges? Here are a few applications that can completely reconstruct how these urban areas are planned and managed and improve living standards.

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Traffic management: Infrastructure is failing to keep up with the overpopulation and urban growth, forcing city planners to devise a solution to the severe traffic that affects people’s lives. IoT sensors can send data on empty parking spaces or clear roads, which is optimized to save time and decrease rates of road accidents.

Energy & Waste management: Solar-powered smart waste management system using IoT technology efficiently collects waste, decreases operating costs, and reduces garbage overflow and pollution on the streets. 

Air Quality Management: Smart cities capture pollution data in real-time and forecast emissions, making them able to create short and long terms recommendations to limit the amount of air pollution

Enhance public safety: IoT devices make it easier for emergency services to respond to incidents. Officials can monitor real-time data through sensors and cameras, improving their ability to react in emergencies like natural disasters, riots, aggressions, and suicide attempts. Before this technology, disasters were unpredictable, and people were helpless about how it withheld affect them. Today, IoT devices gather data from the weather and systematically broadcast signals so that officials can contact people and information quicker. Cameras also play a role in catching criminals, which adds another layer of security to the city.

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Smart city examples

There are currently only several smart cities, but the number is still growing. London has developed a SmartPark project to reduce traffic congestion. Paris announced the Paris SmartCity 2050 project, which aims to generate positive energy output from high-rise buildings. Pune, a city in India, already has smart LEDs e-bikes and is working to integrate IoT technologies further. Although reshaping a city is a very difficult task, more authorities like the idea. The first steps are costly, but the benefit pays off in the long run, and smart cities optimizing IoT devices will soon be everywhere. 

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Conclusion

The applications of IoT in urban areas have time entirely transformed cities so that they can be safer and smarter for the population inhabiting them. Smart cities with IoT now enjoy safer communities, enhanced citizen and government engagement, reduced environmental footprint, more effective data-driven decision-making,and new economic development opportunities.

At Dirox, we develop IoT programs so that you can improve the operations of your business, just like how authorities are improving the efficiency of their cities. Contact us to learn more about the opportunities when implementing IoT in your business!

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