From transport and the environment to tourism and retail, interactive technology is fundamentally shaping smart city infrastructure.
A smart city is a city, or a significant part of one, which has adopted digital technology to provide a better environment for residents, businesses and local government. In many cases, interactive technology is leading the way in the possibilities of what a smart city can deliver. According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, some of the crucial sectors that harness the smart city concept include energy, water and transportation. However, the limits of a smart city should not be placed there, as leading smart cities such as Barcelona, Stockholm and Chicago have shown. Those backing the concept are now using complex analytics drawn from the big data that a smart city inevitably generates to improve the ways that such cities can function and even to set new goals for what is achievable.
The Rise of Smart Cities in the UK
In the UK, parts of London, Milton Keynes and the city of Birmingham, among others, have developed digital strategies to bring about what’s required for a smart city infrastructure. Bristol has also adopted a similar vision under the ‘Bristol is Open’ strategy. Among that city’s experiments has been the development of a network platform that uses several telecommunications technologies built into the fabric of the urban environment, such as Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, LTE and even G5 for its smart city infrastructure. In Bristol you can also find a radio frequency mesh network deployed on around 2,000 lampposts. What can urban planners learn from such developments?
Firstly it should be said that there is no one model that can be cherry-picked to create a smart city infrastructure. Every location on the planet presents its own challenges in respect of where and how the telecommunications infrastructure required to deliver the smart city concept can best be installed. Every city will need to plan for itself and adapt currently used models in order to make its own way. Having said that, those leading the smart city movement are now in a more advanced state than you might think. With much of what is required to deliver a smart city in situ, the next challenge is to pioneer how such an IT network can be utilised to benefit citizens and businesses. For many in the development of smart city automation, this means one thing: interactive technology.
How Does Interactive Technology Work in a Smart City?
Few people have not dealt with some form of interactive technology before, even if that means talking to a chatbot when placing an order online or completing an e-learning course. It is fair to say that in a smart city concept, such established models of interactive technology are taken to the next level. Just look at what is possible with digital signage and wayfinding technology these days. In the future, perhaps all cities will do away with conventional maps and finger pointers, having adopted a digital system which displays the way to get from A to B in an improved manner. Firstly, digital wayfinding can interact with people’s personal smart technology in smart city infrastructure to guide them through the streets. It can even interact with them as traffic situations change in real time, perhaps to recommend taking a bus rather than an underground train service for a particular route. Ultimately, interactive signage personalises the experience of looking at maps and waymarkers so that the information given out is fully tailored to the individual’s needs.
The role of the public kiosk is also worth looking at when it comes to how interactive technology can shape the smart city. In a fully networked urban environment, the role of the kiosk will change so that many services currently delivered by public servants will become automated. Yes, kiosks will deliver information about the city as they do now, for example tourist events, planned road closures and weather reports but that won’t be all. Canadian smart city developers want the role of the interactive kiosk to include providing internet access to citizens and to share information about things like employment opportunities, housing news and even information about where deals in nearby restaurants can be obtained.
The concept of the self-service kiosk is a great example of how readily people are willing to take up the concept of interactive technologies when you might be forgiven for thinking that there could be some resistance to moving on from doing things in the traditional way. Food outlets, including some big name fast food franchises, have already installed interactive vending kiosks into their restaurants already with great success. Not only have customers embraced the ordering system such interactive kiosks afford them, but it has also helped to lower business costs since fewer people are required to take orders. In a smart city infrastructure, such take up of interactive kiosks will no doubt continue on the street as well as within private enterprises with ever greater integration and networking between services. Just imagine a tourist kiosk which does not need to be manned, providing all the information visitors could need. Additionally, it will have the ability to sell them something handy, like an umbrella, just when they need it and it will even be capable of taking their lunch order for them to pick up in a few hours time when they’ve reached an outlet on the far side of a visitor attraction. This is all possible with the technology available now.
In addition to these exciting commercial opportunities, the smart city will be able to advertise to its inhabitants in ever more sophisticated ways. Interactive advertising should make use of big data analytics to provide a bespoke marketing service for individuals. For example, a bus stop advert that detects tourists are nearby could be set to show visitor attractions. Digital advertising can be altered according to demographics or even previous buying history. Bear in mind that smart city technology, like this, is not only for display advertising. It can be used in stores, too, in order to make recommendations about other products that might complement some item that is currently being viewed in what is known as the immersive retail experience.
With so much going on with smart city infrastructure nowadays, isn’t it time to review your digital strategies? Get in touch to find out more.
The city of the future will adopt smart city infrastructure largely thanks to the efforts of forward-thinking urban planners who embrace new technologies.
