Smart Cities

Abstract

This paper focuses on the importance of ideas that are required to develop Smart cities. The paper is divided into three major parts. The first part of paper emphasis on the transformation system practices through efficiencies and smart work that many develop smart cities. The second part of the paper focuses on the importance of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programs from IBM. Finally, the last part of paper discusses about the environmental hazards contributed by different cities contributing to global warming.

Smart Cities

Introduction

In the twenty-first century, economic growth and competitive advantage of cities mainly depend on the skills and expertise of the people. Their skills, knowledge and creativity combined together to contribute for the growth of economy, and creating an environment where they can attract innovation. The implementation efficient systems can bring better options for cities, and that will attract, create, enable, and retain their citizens' skills, creativity and knowledge. Urbanization of the world is getting greater control in this era as many of the cities are focusing on their development both economically and politically. Cities are being centered to technology approaches, as their core systems and processes are unified, enabling new levels of intelligence. Similarly, cities are facing with numerous challenges and threats to their systems and sustainability, which they need to be tackled holistically. To seize opportunities and structuring sustainable prosperity, cities need to become “smarter” (Dirks & Keeling, 2009).

Smart city transformation system

A century ago, not more than 20 cities around the world had a population in excess of 1 million. Today, those numbers has enlarged to 450, and will prolong to foreseeable future (World population prospects, 2008). As cities grow in terms of population and economic growth, they are taking their position on the world's center stage, with more power than ever before in areas of economic, technology and politics. The journey to become “smart city” is not an overnight transformation. It requires cities to prepare for the changes that will be revolutionary instead of evolutionary, as they put in position next generation processes that functions in entire new ways. The administration of the city must plan for activities that are core for change, and therefore they should shed, retain or expand into different segments of the system. Moreover they must focus on assembling the teams by integrating their roles and responsibilities at all levels. They must integrate their own administration and inter linked with different levels of government. These processes can be broadly divided into planning, management, and operations. By implementing the technological changes into the system they need to make it intelligent, instrumented and interconnected. Intelligence refers to the ability to utilize the information that is originated, and then the model patterns of behavior are translated into the real expertise. Instrumentation refers to the system of a city that makes it measurable through transformation into data points in the system. Interconnection in the system refers to integrate different sectors of the core system, which enable them to share and communicate valuable information (Dirks ...