Smart cities will overhaul the urban landscape, as technology aims to help solve today’s various issues. What will the future be like with the rise of smart cities?
The rise of smart cities, the development of innovative technologies, and the trend of rapid urbanization will overhaul the urban landscape over the next few years.
The topic was part of The FUTU/RE Summit at the ULI Philippines Conference on April 4. Cagayan Economic Zone Authority Secretary Raul Lambino was the presenter and IP Ventures CEO Jamie Enrique Yuchengco Gonzales was the moderator, for panelists that included Jerde Partnership’s APAC Managing Director Phil Kim, Professional Property Services Group Chairman Nicholas Brooke, and Converge ICT Solutions COO Jesus Romero.
Preparing for the Urban Crunch
Lambino started the panel by asking the question, “Where is the best place, the safest place to live?”
He criticized the country’s public transportation system for not being enough to accommodate the workforce, forcing a significant percentage to resort private transportation, contributing to pollution. The traffic situation also means that people spend more time on the road than with their loved ones.
Lambino also raised the effects of climate change on the Philippines, including the strongest typhoons ever experienced by the country happening over the last decade. Global warming was recently felt by the Metro Manila population, with dried up dams causing immense water shortages.
According to the United Nations, 1.3 million people are moving into cities every week, which means that by 2050, 6.3 billion people, or 68 percent of the world’s population, are estimated to be living in cities.
The question now is whether there will be sufficient housing and adequate food distribution in these cities and if technology will help solve these sustainability problems. Among the solutions that Lambino discussed include creating appropriate city layouts that maximize spaces and reduces pollution, as well as the simple incorporation of trees and plant life in urban architecture.
There are many ways to go about in creating green cities to solve all these problems, Lambino said, but it is now all down to selecting the best strategy to use in the Philippines.
The Rise of Smart Cities
Smart cities are urban areas that utilize technology to gather data, which will then be used for better asset management and resource allocation for sustainability. How soon will smart cities arrive, and will they solve today’s urban problems?
Smart cities are rising in certain areas around the world, but they should place people first to be able to address urban issues. Smart cities will also require a strong foundation of private-public partnerships to succeed in their goals.
The purpose of smart cities is to address concerns regarding the citizens’ quality of life, safety and health, and economic development. However, it all starts with the base infrastructure, as all the planned capabilities of smart cities, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, will only perform to their potential through a central system that connects everything.
The development of smart cities will require several layers of thinking, only one of which is improving the human experience, and will also already require planning for the future.
Technology in Smart Cities
The technology that will power smart cities will be crucial in solving today’s urban problems. For example, in solving the traffic situation, smart cities, with the aid of mobile connection providers and social media companies, will be able to gather the necessary data to come up with an answer. Driverless cars are a great idea in helping ease traffic, but particularly in the Philippines, infrastructure will require upgrades to support 5G technology and ensure that connectivity is never lost.
One form of technology that may help form smart cities in the Philippines are electric vehicles, particularly for public transportation. This is already appearing in certain areas, but before public transportation goes fully electric, the move will need to receive support from both local and national leadership.
There exists a push-and-pull between innovation and regulation though, as current regulations are mostly restrictive, limiting the development of technology. This raises the importance of regulation sandboxes, where companies will be able to test new ideas for efficiency and safety before rolling them out to the general public.
Smart Cities in 30 Years
People from the past have badly missed on their predictions on what cities would look like now, but the panelists took a stab at what they think smart cities will look like after 30 years.
The first prediction is that future cities will look something like Singapore, but with the “vitality and messiness” of Bgy. Poblacion, Makati.
The second prediction is that smart cities in 30 years will be master planned areas, with cars not going everywhere, everything is green, and where services are predicted and delivered to people.
The third prediction is that buildings will be designed for shorter lives, as it will be hard to see their usage about 10 years ahead, with less space allocated to people in gross terms.
However, whatever happens, regulators, designers, developers, innovators, and entrepreneurs will need to work together in order to attain a brighter future for the country and push for the development of sustainable smart cities.
Smart cities will need to be people sensitive, as the players within the industry are building for future generations. The approach should not be top-down, but rather inside-out, and the Philippines has the resources to succeed with such a mindset and set an example to other countries.
Smart cities will be facing several challenges though, one of which is inclusiveness – whether financial, technological, or educational. People facing affordability and accessibility issues, such as those moving into cities from provinces to try to gain better economic standings, will hopefully be supported by technology to bridge the gap.
Read our previous journal on the ULI FU/TURE Summit.
