What is smart city infrastructure?
Smart city infrastructure is the digital technology used to integrate networks and services in cities to enhance efficiency and quality of life.
There are various kinds of smart technologies that make up a smart city, from buildings and homes to mobility and energy. The goal is to make a city as energy-efficient as possible, usually focusing on renewable power sources, sustainable building materials, and integrated technology systems that can be centralized for easier management.
When thinking about upgrading a location to a smart city, architects and engineers use civil engineering design software to draft complex 3D models of buildings and structures. From there, the infrastructure needed to support these can be determined, planned, and budgeted for.
Types of smart city infrastructures
There are thousands of possible applications for smart infrastructure in a city. Some of the most common types implemented around the world are:
- Waste management systems: Every city will have large amounts of waste, no matter how ecologically focused it is. Smart waste management means that receptacles around the city are emptied by priority according to their capacity. This can be done using sensors instead of routine collection routes and would result in reduced overall costs, shorter collection times, and prevention of waste overflow.
- Traffic controls: Waiting at a light when there’s no other traffic around can be frustrating and time-consuming. Smart systems keep traffic flowing efficiently based on real-time data using traffic detection sensors that trigger lights.
- Street lights: With many cities now switching street lighting to LEDs, implementing smart systems has become easier than ever. This can reduce overall energy expenses and keep citizens safer by automatically adjusting the brightness of lights depending on outdoor light levels.
- Air quality sensors: Air quality continues to be a major concern in many cities. Continual monitoring means governments can provide more accurate information to citizens about times that may be dangerous to be outside.
Basic elements of a smart city infrastructure
All smart technology is built differently, but there are various levels of control or automation that can be implemented in smart city infrastructure. These are:
- Intelligent infrastructure: In these systems, data is collected from devices in the city and presented in a way that can be read and understood by humans. This allows for more informed and strategic decision-making.
- Semi-intelligent infrastructure: Semi-intelligent devices cannot make decisions independently without human intervention. They collect and register data about the usage of the devices and environmental conditions but can’t take any actions themselves.
- Smart infrastructure: When data is gathered purely by smart infrastructure, actions can be taken autonomously without human assistance. In many cases, the data is matched to pre-set rules and actions so the devices connected to the system can adapt to changing conditions on their own in real-time.
- Smart networks: These networks incorporate the actions and behaviors of users into the wider system. For instance, smart energy networks can monitor usage across the city and adjust their supply and transmission levels based on homes or offices that may be using more or less energy. This ensures a safer and more sustainable distribution of energy across the whole city.
Benefits of a smart city infrastructure
With the continual development of new technology, the opportunities for smart city infrastructure are endless. Some of the most significant benefits of using these systems include:
- Automated decision-making: Actions can be taken faster when humans are removed from some of the decision-making. While the technology is not at a point where cities can be managed entirely without human oversight, many low-level decisions that take up time can now be automated.
- Cost savings: The goal of smart cities is to use available resources more effectively. By doing so, cities can save significant amounts of money over the year. put in place that can adapt to the real needs of the residents.
- Improving safety: Maintaining infrastructure to ensure it’s still safe to use is critical to city management. Various safety aspects can be automated using smart systems, and those in charge can be notified when something may be becoming unsafe so that swift action can be taken.
- Greater reliability: When systems are used more effectively, they can continue operating for a longer period. This means there’s less downtime for key systems like energy or water supply, causing less disruption to daily lives.
- Increased sustainability: Smart systems often make critical city tasks like waste, water, and energy management more sustainable as resources are better allocated throughout the city.
Best practices for smart city infrastructures
The need for smart cities is growing every year. As public officials shift towards an increased reliance on smart systems, there are several best practices that should be kept in mind:
- Engaging with residents and business owners: While it’s easy to take a top-down approach when implementing new smart infrastructure throughout a city, once these tools have been launched, gathering feedback from the people they directly impact is essential. Talking with residents and business owners about their experiences with smart infrastructure can help governments find and fix problems quickly.
- Keeping up to date with cybersecurity threats: As with any other technology, smart city infrastructure is at risk from attack by cybercriminals. Without precautions taken and measures put into place to protect these tools, significant infrastructure can be severely disrupted.
- Sharing data across government organizations: Keeping information within individual departments may be successful initially, but sharing data with other relevant government agencies can help cities find additional ways to implement smart infrastructure effectively.
Plan and build with smart city infrastructure in mind using building design and building information modeling (BIM) software.
