The rudiments of what constitutes a smart city which we define as a city in which ICT is merged with traditional infrastructures, coordinated and integrated using new digital technologies.
The success of these cities lies in the application of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Big Data to the city’s systems and assets to make them more sustainable, connected and optimized.
How a Smart City works
A Smart City has its main driver in the use of innovation and technological potential as tools for transformation and improvement of quality of life. Getting into the operational field, the implementation of sensors and IoT devices is used for collecting data from buildings, facilities, traffic systems, security, supplies, etc. to be processed and sent to specific management platforms, where they can be visualized, A list of what makes a city smart and not a traditional city:
*Building and control automation
*Efficient urban planning
*Smart waste management
*Improving environmental sustainability
Application:
Its application within Africa’s cities includes few cities in Africa that operate a smart city ranging from a proposed idea to an already existing city, examples are;
*1- Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town’s city hall has launched a four-pillar project in an effort to establish itself as a Smart City and has been hailed as the smartest city in Africa in 2021. From its real-time data efforts to improve emergency response, including fire and rescue, law enforcement, and disaster risk management to digital inclusion via free Wi-Fi enabled on city buses, Cape Town is the most developed city in Africa and also on its way to becoming one of the smartest cities in the world in near future.
*2.Konza Techno polis City, Kenya
*3.Eko Atlantic City, Nigeria
*4.Hope City, Ghana.Etc
The ICT framework brings together real time data from connected assets objects and machines to improve decision making. However in addition, citizens are able to engage and interact with smart city ecosystems through mobile devices and connected vehicles and buildings. By pairing devices with data and the infrastructure of the city, it is possible to cut costs, improve sustainability and streamline factor such as energy distribution and refuse collection, as well as offering reduced traffic congestion, and improve air quality.
The benefits
Smart cities offer plenty of benefits to improve citizen safety, such as
*connected surveillance systems,
*intelligent roadways and
*public safety monitoring but what about protecting the smart cities themselves?
Smart City Challenges
For all of the benefits offered by smart cities, there are also challenges to overcome. These include government officials allowing widespread participation from citizens. There is also a need for the private and public sectors to align with residents so that everyone can positively contribute to the community.
* Smart city projects need to be transparent and available to citizens via an open data portal or mobile app.
*This all requires a solid and secure system of data collection and storage to prevent hacking or misuse. Smart city data also needs to be anonymous to prevent privacy issues from arising.
*The largest challenge is quite probably that of connectivity, with thousands or even millions of IoT devices needing to connect and work in unison.
Reference
- M.Nielsen,Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science(Princeton Universal patterns in human urban mobility(2011)
- A.Pozdnoukhov,C.Kaiser,Proceedings of the Location-Based Social Networks
- A.Noulas,S.Scellato,R.Lambiotte,M.Pontil,C.S.Mascolo.A tale of many cities:
- Y. Portugali, Complexity, Cognition and the City(Springer,Heidelberg,DE,2011) Workshop,(2011)
- F.Pagliara,M.deBok,D.Simmonds,A.Wilson(eds.),Employment Location in Cities
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