Cities coming to life

Internet of things has reshaped everything surrounding us starting from our businesses to our homes, cars, and cities we live in. Today, we can definitely say that we are heading towards a smarter world. In my previous articles, I talked about smart cars, smart solutions, even smart infrastructure, but I thought it would be interesting to take a small journey through the world’s smartest cities. To do that first we need to understand what makes a city smart. Here are the technologies that make this possible, in 2017:

• Interactive screens

We can already see interactive screens, or digital kiosks, in some of the biggest cities, and it looks like they are becoming successful. You can see why, they allow everybody to check information about the nearby restaurants, stores and events. What’s most important is that they also provide the city’s map, and we all know how useful this can be. If you are ever lost in Kansas City, check the digital kiosks to find the way to your destination.

• Intelligent streetlights

It might not seem like a big deal, but smart streetlights is a smart city feature and even keeps you out of danger in the night, it also reduces energy costs, significantly. Los Angeles, for example, already implemented smart streetlights and managed to save up to $9M a year. LA also replaced some of the streetlights poles with smart poles that reduce costs and improves cell phone coverage. Pretty nice, right?

• Parking sensors

I am not talking about car parking sensors. If you are looking for a parking spot in an overcrowded city, you know it is a real burden, but not for long, Internet of things allows you to find a parking spot from your phone. Paris is one of the cities that already adopted technology and the adoption results are impressive.

There are more technologies that can give a city a smart touch and we can only hope one day to see them in every city througout the world.

Now, it’s time to take a short journey through the world’s smartest cities:

Barcelona

The city of artists, Barcelona, is a global leader in IoT technology usage, which has brought it the acclamation of being the European Capital of Innovation, back in 2014. Telecare services, smart traffic lights, smart street lights, smart bins and other similar technologies, allows Barcelona to see significant energy savings and be a nice place to live.

Singapore

Road sensors, smart parking and phased traffic lights are some of the technologies that made Singapore the world leader when it comes to transportation. Moreover, this high-tech connected city has implemented an innovative platform, called Smart Nation. This program allows a high control over almost everything, starting from tracking the density of the crowds to knowing how clean the traffic is. If more innovations are yet to come, Singapore is on the verge of becoming the smartest cities.

London

The city of rainbows and the global center for entrepreneurship has earned its reputation of being the first city that used open data to create innovation. Recently, officials announced that London is going to invest a significant amount of money in solving traffic congestions by using high-tech solutions. No more traffic jams in London, is that even possible?

Our journey ends here, for the moment, but I promise to be back with more insights on the world’s highest-tech cities.

Image source: pixabay.com