Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and by 2050, according to the UN, the percentage of urbanization of the world's population will reach almost 70%. People do not want to stay in sparsely populated regions where there is no access to all the modern possibilities of the metropolis, and move.
But with the influx of population in cities, problems begin — transport collapses, overload of city services, increased consumption of energy resources and environmental degradation. To cope with all this, governments are turning to information technology. So, gradually there are more and more cities in the world that claim the status of "smart city".
In the classical sense, a "smart city" is a locality where, thanks to the use of information technology, infrastructure and services are effective both from the point of view of the government and from the point of view of residents and businesses.
However, in recent years, due to the exhaustion of resources and the carbon footprint, the concept has been expanded. Smart cities are now not only about infocommunication technologies like 5G networks and artificial intelligence. This is about a place where IT works side-by-side with the rational planning and modernization of transport networks, water supply, heating, lighting and waste separation.
In general, there are a lot of approaches to describing a smart city. Each theorist, as a rule, comes up with some kind of definition. But if we abstract and decompose the "smart city" into components in practice, we get seven main components: a safe city, effective mobility of citizens within the city (smart roads, smart transport, smart parking), environmental protection (pollution control and landscaping), smart housing and communal services (water supply, energy supply, waste), active participation of citizens in city management (e-government), affordable e-education and healthcare (smart healthcare, telemedicine, distance learning), as well as providing powerful communication channels and analytics systems. In these areas, all cities of the world are working with varying success, striving to "get smarter".
What exactly are the technologies that turn everyday urban life into "smart"?
IoT (Internet of Things). In order for all devices and devices to work in contact with each other and bring maximum benefit, they must be equipped with sensors and combined into one ecosystem using cloud services.
Geolocation. Urban planning and the work of services requires up-to-date information about the location of objects. Geospatial technologies collect and analyze such data.
Robots. The integration of robots into residential, work and public spaces will not only save people from a difficult or unpleasant routine for a person, but at the same time will increase the efficiency of the city structure and services, as well as reduce costs.
XR technologies. Virtual and augmented reality are key elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And since 2020, under the influence of the coronavirus, they have become one of the main directions of smart city development. XR technologies allow you to solve problems remotely (AR glasses) or teach people important but rarely occurring actions (VR simulators).
Artificial intelligence. Without neural networks, it will not be possible to analyze the huge data stream generated by a smart city in real time.
Routing of autonomous public transport, intelligent management of automobile traffic and the power grid, delivery by drones, and so on are impossible without AI. Neural networks will help to understand whether the city is "healthy", whether all its "vital organs" are functioning normally.
5G mobile networks. The existing 3G and 4G are hopelessly outdated. They will not cope with the volumes of data that are continuously generated by the above smart cities components. Therefore, 5G networks are needed for the full operation of the "smart" city of the future.
Blockchain. It serves as a bulwark of security and transparency of the entire system — it can be used in self-executing contracts or smart contracts that allow transactions to be carried out without the need for mediation.
