In Singapore, a robot dog roams the streets making sure people maintain social distancing. In England, a man asks his smart phone for directions to the nearest train station. In Australia, drones scour the countryside counting koala populations in the wake of a bushfire.
These are just a few examples of the myriad ways smart cities are designed and implemented to improve our lives, and the livelihood of the environment around it.
Associate Professor Tan Yigitcanlar from QUT’s School of Built Environment specialises in smart city research.
“These visible signposts of smart cities are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what a smart city really means,” Yigitcanlar said.
“What lies beneath the water lies an immense quantity of data, predictive algorithms and powerful analytics that drive our cities to be more than just bricks and mortar.”
It’s about prediction and planning
While the term “smart cities” may bring to mind futuristic visions of flying cars and fully automated civic services, the reality of a smart city lies in the predictive power and algorithmic planning that allows that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to happen smoothly.
“Digital technology and data are part of the intrinsic fabric of our cities’ urban systems and infrastructure, driving efficiencies and improving quality of life for those who live within the city,” Yigitcanlar said.
“We completed a study of 180 Australian local governments — covering two thirds of Australia’s population — and found that 35% of them qualified as smart cities. And they’re rapidly becoming smarter.”
By using interlinked systems of data analysis and prediction, smart cities have the potential to create resilient and robust cities in the face of natural disasters and disease pandemics.
“Let’s look at Covid-19 as an example: a smart city knows about hospital capacities, healthcare capabilities, population numbers and locations, and trends for infection and disease morbidity and mortality,” Yigitcanlar said.
“The city’s systems can understand the limits of healthcare infrastructure, and model what will happen if those limits are surpassed, and can also predict methods to mitigate that collapse.
“It can also measure public perception about the disease, leadership response to the pandemic, any public health measures put in place to protect the population.”
This wealth of information about our cities and their inhabitants can also predict behaviours and impacts during a severe weather event.
If a cyclone is predicted to hit northern Queensland, a smart city will have data on how many houses have cyclone-proof roofs, previous data from similar weather events and the damage caused, information about crisis centres, evacuation plans, tracking of emergency foods and water supplies, and cost analyses of repair and clean-up from damage.
“Experts can interpret these predictions and models and decide on the best courses of action to create the best outcomes for a city and its population,” Yigitcanlar said.
Technology is not a panacea
While the promises and potential of smart cities are tempting, Yigitcanlar makes it clear that it’s no panacea.
“Technology alone can’t solve our problems — it comes with a lot of benefits, but we have to turn it into good policy with well-intentioned implementation, and we have to be vigilant in tracking outcomes to ensure it’s delivering as intended.
“Information and technology are the newest commodity, and AI is the new oil.
“Just like oil did for industrialisation, AI is disrupting our cities and our lives. It’s delivering benefits and negatives simultaneously, improving some aspects of our lives while also losing something along the way.
“Over the last two centuries, oil’s boosted innovation, discovery, scientific development and political power, but at the cost of environmental health and social equality around the world.”
Scientists like Yigitcanlar believe they have a responsibility to ensure that AI and smart city implementation keeps one foot firmly grounded in reality, ensuring that efficiency doesn’t come at too high a cost.
“We need to move away from a technocentric perspective and instead look at how technology, policy and community all interact to drive society,” Yigitcanlar said.
“These three things must be balanced if we’re to develop smart cities that really do work for a greater good.”
Smart cities are fairer cities
Having the technology to understand a city’s resources, capabilities and population creates opportunities to use that information for the greater good.
“Technology should be about creating equity and justice, and using data to gain a clear understanding of how our cities function for all citizens — rich and poor,” Yigitcanlar said.
“Using smart technology will help us bridge those inequalities.”
In India, the national government is implementing a project to develop one hundred smart cities across the country.
“The potential to increase access to resources, quality of life and social justice are immense,” Yigitcanlar said.
“For example, AI can help boost access to clean water and adequate sanitation. Sensors set up throughout the city’s infrastructure can detect leakages and corrosion on water pipelines, the speed and volume of water flow, test the water quality for pathogens or bacteria.
Around 30% of water in some developing systems is lost in transfer, so if the resource can be monitored, and its quality and quantity understood, and demand for it properly measured, more available water can be sent to those places that need it.”
The need to create smarter cities that are better monitored and better understood also makes the urban area more liveable for non-human inhabitants, including animals and plant life.
“As we constantly expand our human footprint over local flora and fauna, a smart city could provide us with a way to coexist with those other lives,” Yigitcanlar said.
“‘Smartness’ as a concept is really about human wisdom. Can we augment that wisdom with technological advancement to create a sustainable and just existence?
“We have a responsibility as educated members of society to improve the system and make it fairer for everyone.”
More information
Contact Associate Professor Tan Yigitcanlar.
Explore more research at QUT.
Read the papers:
- Yigitcanlar, T., Butler, L., Windle, E., Desouza, K., Mehmood, R., & Corchado, J., (2020). Can building ‘artificially intelligent cities’ protect humanity from natural disasters, pandemics and other catastrophes? An urban scholar’s perspective. Sensors, 20(10), 2988.
- Yigitcanlar, T., & Cugurullo, F., (2020). The sustainability of artificial intelligence: an urbanistic viewpoint from the lens of smart and sustainable cities. Sustainability, 12(20), 8548.
- Yigitcanlar, T., Desouza, K., Butler, L., & Roozkhosh, F., (2020). Contributions and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) in building smarter cities: insights from a systematic review of the literature. Energies, 13(6), 1473.
- Yigitcanlar, T., Kankanamge, N., Butler, L., Vella, K., & Desouza, K., (2020). Smart cities down under: performance of the Australian local government areas. A report for the Australian Government Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. Research Monograph, Queensland University of Technology, Feb 2020, Brisbane, Australia.
