In 2014 the urban population accounted for 54 per cent of the total global population, up from 34 per cent in 1960. This is a significant shift that shows no signs of abating, largely because of the lure of service jobs within cities (more on this in the Workplace chapter).
Inevitably, as cities grow in size, so too do the number of challenges they are presented with. There are obvious logistical issues, from the need to provide enough housing for a growing populace, to ensuring that transport, health, education and emergency services can cope with demand. We also have an environmental responsibility to ensure that cities do not become pollution hotspots.
For example, try running a Google Image search for ‘Beijing smog’. Insufficient pre-emptive consideration for environmental impact in China’s capital has led to its residents becoming accustomed to emergency situations where cars are banned from the roads, schools are closed, and the air is deemed so toxic that going out of doors is considered dangerous. It’s a frightening warning to the rest of the world.
By way of response, in January 2017 the famous fog mask maker, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, teamed up with advertising agency Dentsu to ‘gameify’ the process of tracking air pollution levels in China – in an effort to make the situation feel a little less depressing. The higher the air pollution on the PM 2.5 Air Quality Index, the greater was the discount on the masks. Users could check the levels on their smartphone using the Kobayashi app, which reacts to real-time data, detecting each user’s location to offer the relevant price reduction. It then dispensed a coupon, for use at some of China’s biggest e-commerce portals.
The campaign claimed to ‘Brighten up the days of everyone in China’, but the campaign is problematic in many ways. Despite claiming to ‘gameify’ pollution checking, there is little to suggest this is a game other than the app’s colourful interface. What’s more, by describing it as a game, the implication is that the user is ‘winning’ when pollution levels are higher – which hardly promotes sustainable behaviour. Conversely, TreeWiFi’s smart birdhouses, featured in this chapter, reverse this model by offering a reward (free Wi-Fi) when pollution levels drop. And even the birds get something out of it.
More generally, in response to these new demands, we are now seeing the evolution of the smart city. ‘Smart city’ is a broad term used to describe any metropolis using technology to deliver more efficient and effective public services – from transport to waste management to schools. Like so many innovations in this book, their development is underpinned by large-scale, detailed data collection, from both the built environment and from residents. This data, from peak travel times to seasonal shopping preferences, when analysed and interpreted in context, yields insights capable of solving any number of urban problems. In the Philippines, for example, congestion is being reduced thanks to OpenTraffic, which aggregates data from a ride-sharing service to improve traffic flow. And as the Internet of Things* gains momentum – adding an enormous volume of new data – this unprecedented ability to draw insights will be further heightened.
This presents governments and city leaders with opportunities to innovate and optimize in pursuit of the public good. In Singapore, for example, the government’s Smart Nation programme – underpinned by a network of data-collecting sensors – aims to improve health, housing and transport in the city. The programme has been running since 2014, and progress has been made in areas as diverse as the development of noise-reducing building materials, sustainability and testing self-driving vehicles.
But gathering data and crunching numbers is only half the story. Many smart cities go beyond looking at simply how data should be analysed and applied; they also look at who is best placed to perform that analysis and application.
By disseminating anonymized data to the public, governments are increasingly giving citizens the permission and capability to innovate on behalf of their community, government and fellow citizens. Crowdsourcing innovation in this way requires the release of as much data as possible, of course, but just as important are the platforms, which interpret and present that data in intuitive ways. DataPress, for example, publishes raw data and helps non-technical users analyse and understand it, while Transitland is a free, open platform that aggregates publicly available transport information from around the world. Platforms such as these are essential to help drive resident-created innovation, and they can ultimately lead to a stronger relationship between citizens and government.
Opening up access to data and inviting public input empowers citizens in a meaningful way, and presents a golden opportunity to increase both trust and civic capital. Balancing Act, the app that enables citizens to visualize city budgets, helps leaders understand the priorities of their people, and vice versa. In Mexico City, an even more inclusive approach is taken, with the government inviting input on its entire constitution. In both instances, city leaders are using their most valuable assets – their people – to tackle ingrained urban problems.
The innovations in this chapter highlight the virtues of ‘opening up’ data and inviting collaboration in the pursuit of smarter cities. Collectively, they herald a bright future, in which technologically enabled and engaged citizens, working closely with municipal leaders, provide urban solutions.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things is the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to collect and exchange data.