Imagine you are driving for work on the straight, clean and shady roads and your meeting with partners will be punctual every second counts in the absence of traffic congestion. All of these and above all are the future of smart cities, a new definition of urban living standards in the digital age widely used by various cities to turn their cities into livable cities in terms of environment, traffic, healthcare and public security. It is a green, clean and beautiful Copenhagen with a sustainable ecology and a combination of working space with social buildings, restaurants, movie theater to build a multi-function city to connect people. It is Singapore, which spearheads greenizing every nook and cranny of the island nation with the initiative in application of the Internet of Things (IoT) into traffic and transportation management. It is India with a broad vision of turning 100 cities into smart urban areas. It is China with over 200 cities selected as sample for smart city projects while over 90% of its provinces and cities have considered IoT as a core industry in their development plan. So what are the key factors contributing to a smart and livable city?

In the recent years, the definition of smart city is becoming one of top searched keywords. In 2017, Juniper Research voted Top 20 smart cities all over the world based on ranking results in 4 areas including traffic, healthcare, public security and citizen’s labor efficiency in which Singapore ranked first, closely followed by London, New York, San Francisco, Chicago. India has demonstrated its wide-ranging vision of turning 100 cities into smart cities. China also selected over 200 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou as sample for smart city projects while over 90% of its provinces and cities have considered as a core industry in their development plan.

Sustainability is a major resource for positive changes in our world, promoting transformation and renovation to every aspect of society. No longer limited to natural resource preservation, sustainability now includes a wide range of challenges from urban growth, traffic, carbon footprint to work-life balance.

Given the expected world’s population growth by about 33% by 2050 and nearly 70% of urban citizens, sustainability has come into focus of modern cities. Along with that, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart city technology are two of keys to success in this field. In practice, Gartner estimated that in 2020, half of smart cities’ targets would focus on climate change, restoration and sustainability. With expected growth rate of over 19% per annum, the global market of smart cities are forecast to reach USD 3.6 trillion in 2025 as compared to USD 773 billion in 2016.

Creative firms and cities have seen these potentials and join their hands to implement programs to meet the global sustainability targets. Smart cities are built on the common digital basis connecting citizens, the Government and stakeholders, and sending and receiving data at the same time. Cloud-based application software will receive, manage and analyze data, and turn it into real-time intelligence, which improves the way we live, work and entertain.

Although smart cities show more ambitions than in practice, many cities have initiated programs and projects to carry out their smart city plans. The European Union implemented smart city projects under the sponsorship of the Digital Agenda for Europe while similar initiatives were also launched in cities of Northern America, Asia and Middle East.
According to ABI Research’s Smart Cities Competitive Assessment, Singapore was assessed as the smartest city with special focus on Mobility-as-a-Service – MaaS and Freight-as-a-Service – FaaS, automatic transportation and freight hub, and platooning trials and projects. Additionally, Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative addresses a wide range of urban issues linked to high-density living.

Since 2011, Vienna has set very ambitious targets for energy management and consumption with focus on reduction in greenhouse gas emission. Toronto are cooperating with a
subsidiary of Google to create an east riverside community that will adopt connected technologies to provide driverless vehicles and climate-friendly energy system. In 2014, Innovation Path of Paris initiative was announced with focus on human, aimed at planning, modernizing traffic and associated services. The Paris Government has recently drawn attention for their initiative in promotion of covering cities with green.

London implemented a traffic congestion avoidance system thanks to license plate
recognition software. English police use the similar technologies to operate a nationwide vehicle monitoring system. Companies behind these activities also actively develop sensor technologies and software for smart cities thanks to cooperation with Urban Systems Engineers @ Imperial College and other organizations to address urban issues. License plate recognition as a starting point and an algorithm that enables computer to recognize everything, has become more and more important, accelerating the speed of recognition and analysis of every object.

Tokyo, the host city of 2020 Summer Olympic, has considered security, energy and
technology efficiency as its major targets of smart city program with initiative related to moving underground facilities, allowing more space for advertisement, emergency
information, hotpots and electricity stations for pop-ups.

Berlin considers smart city as a cross-sector process using information technology and communication to make city more efficient, healthier, more sustainable, easier-to-live and cleaner. Berlin smart city strategy is a comprehensive program related to green space maintenance.

Hong Kong also pioneered in using radio-frequency identification (RFID) in smart cards. trong thẻ thông minh. Hong Kong’s citizens access public transportation and make payment at convenience stores and fast food restaurants with Octopus smart card launched in 1997. Hong Kong also pioneered in using smart card in library, building, parking and other
premises.

Shanghai and Beijing do not stand out, implementing new technologies such as smart electricity meter and power grid, applying bike, electricity scooter and parking sharing model, and smart card despite major issues such as traffic congestion, pollution and other issues.

New traffic models

If 2018 was a year of bicycle, 2019 is likely to be a year of other modern means of transportations. In December, Elon Musk’s Boring Company announced its first underground transit system between major cities called hyperloop in Hawthorne, CA whereas Northeast Maglev connecting Baltimore and Washington, DC will be the first project to be announced this year.

In the personal mobile space, 2019 will probably see more creative ways of connecting people. The growth of new electric scooters are accelerating with some of product lines being expected to appear on streets of some cities following years, in which scooters will take dominance over bicycle. Lyft is committed to introducing scooter to more various market while launching new bicycle models. Jump has also found a way to surpass bicycle and participate in scooter whereas Spin has completely removed all of its bicycle services and promoted scooter services in its marketing campaign instead.

Changes in parking appearance

If people became bored with cars on their way to work in 2018, parking facility infrastructure and effectiveness of pavement are of interests in 2019. In practice, some cities are experience changes in regulations on the minimum limits on parking in 2018, especially in San Francisco, the largest city removing parking to leave room for new house development.

Car parking will not be completely removed, but can be transformed in the following years when the automatic parking system and “smart parking” gain in growing popularity. A recent report indicated that spending on smart parking products and services is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% and exceed USD 3.8 billion in 2023.

Digital payment

The era of smart phones results in changes in consumption behaviors that open new opportunities for cities to update payment options for consumption items from traffic to public buildings.
Several cities start to test the transformation into digital payment in 2018, especially related to underground and bus fares. Cities such as Washington, DC carried out a non-cash bus route trial while Los Angeles announced platform like TAPforce to introduce new payment method on LA Metro.