Are smart cities sustainable?
The short answer is: yes, they can be (even more sustainable than non-smart cities). The longer, more complex, answer is: Smart cities have the potential to make a significant contribution to urban sustainability, by using information and communication technology (ICT) to gather urban data and improve performance and management.
How? By applying smart solutions such as smart parking, smart lighting, smart building, air quality monitoring, refuse collection, renewable energy, water infrastructure, and energy grids. In fact, smart parking has turned out to be one of the fastest and easiest solutions to achieve sustainability in a city.
But what do we mean exactly by the term “smart solutions”? A smart solution is a general term commonly used to describe systems that combine innovative information and communication technologies (e.g. Internet of Things), and apply them in all aspects of life, such as smart devices (TVs, phones), but also smart offices, cars, or even complete cities. It is possible to apply smart solutions in such a wide range because most smart solutions are based on the use of sensors. Sensors come in all shapes and sizes and can be installed almost everywhere and in/on anything.
A concrete example of a smart solution that helps cities control their carbon footprint and reduce their CO2 emissions is air quality monitoring. Monitoring air quality in cities helps in assessing the level of pollution in relation to the ambient air quality standards. It can provide cities insights on how to actively reduce their emissions. A solution like this can lead to 10-15% fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In order to build successful smart city solutions, three key steps are necessary (Source):
The technology base has to include networks of connected devices and sensors, such as smartphones connected by high-speed communication networks
Smart applications and data analysis capabilities are used to translate the raw data gathered from these devices and sensors into alerts, insights, and ultimately, actions
A wide adoption of applications and usage by cities, companies, and the public, together with the effective management of data, is needed to inspire better decisions and behavior change
In a study from June 2018 on smart cities, McKinsey Global Institute investigated how technology can deliver a better quality of life, including an analysis of smart applications that will be relevant for cities through 2025. Findings indicate that smart technologies could improve key indicators such as health, security or cost of living by 10–30% once introduced and that using the current generation of smart city applications could effectively help cities make significant or moderate progress toward meeting 70% of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Another great example of a smart solution that helps cities improve their environmental impact is smart parking. Did you know that 30% of all emissions that are caused by traffic are due to parking search traffic? Can you imagine the amount of emissions we would ‘save’ if we are able to guide drivers to the nearest parking spot, without having to circle around the block over and over again?! This is why we came up with a variety of smart parking solutions, such as a smart parking guidance system that uses overhead sensors that can be mounted onto existing lampposts, or a curb management system that helps cities manage the curb effectively.
Smart parking is extremely important for the development of smart cities and part of the reason why smart cities tend to be more sustainable than non-smart cities.
To us at Cleverciti, it is perfectly clear that smart cities are the future and we are eager to contribute to a better and more sustainable future by developing the best smart parking solutions for our customers around the world. Curious to see how our smart parking systems can be applied in your city? Schedule a demo below and talk to one of our smart parking experts now: