Ugo Valenti

Photo: Fira Barcelona

A blueprint for the future: We are the cities we make

21 October 2021

By: Ugo Valenti, Director, Smart City Expo World Congress

Cities are the home to humankind. Such a bold statement would have probably been contradicted just two decades ago, but today the world is unquestionably urban. Facts are simply eye-opening: 55 percent of the world population lives in urban areas and multiple sources estimate that these numbers will continue growing in the next 15 to 30 years.

If anything, cities are epitomes of complexity. Densely populated, hosting a myriad of networks and infrastructures at many levels, and witnesses to the incessant dynamics of society. That also makes them relentless ecosystems in constant need of sustenance. Reaching the perfect equilibrium between the unstoppable urbanisation of the planet and the sensible distribution of resources has become one of the major challenges of our generation, if not the main one.

Smart cities are, since the coining of the term, an approach to this equation. Initially, the term itself meant many different things to different people with diverse focuses on elements such as technology, sustainability, urbanism and architecture, and policymaking. Ten years ago, Smart City Expo World Congress debuted as the first international event promoting what then was a radically new idea: integrating all the existing approaches and shaping a new standard.

The event has since become a witness to every change in trends from hyper-technological cities to human-centred metropolises and from efficiency-obsessed management to inclusive and collaborative policy‑making. It is also a beacon of what is yet to come.

In this sense, the pandemic has surely shifted the urgency of some improvements and the quick deployment of certain technologies. In the next few years, we will see a rise in the use of contactless public services, artificial intelligence (AI) bursting deep into the fabric of our cities, and even traffic congestion curbed by new teleworking schemes.

Reshaping cities

Recent examples prove how some solutions not only efficiently combine these technologies but also enable the reshaping of the way cities function and how they can help citizens adopt more sustainable habits.

Last year, Transport for Greater Manchester rolled out the first-ever AI-controlled junctions where cameras and sensors identify different types of road users and control traffic signals. The immediate benefit of such a solution is to reduce traffic congestion but in the future such services will allow city management to prioritise some modes of transportation over others, helping reshape the landscape of a city fostering active travel modes, such as cycling and walking, as well as reducing emissions.

Cities are not only the stage where our lives play out, they are also an expression of their citizens, who they are, and who they want to be. By deploying certain services and solutions we are paving the way for a better tomorrow, drawing the blueprint to the future.

This year, from November 16 to 18, Smart City Expo World Congress will celebrate its tenth anniversary and it will do so by strengthening its role as a world platform for knowledge sharing.

Not only will it bring together the leading thinkers, companies, and institutions in the urban innovation ecosystem, but it will widen its reach by hosting two new events: Tomorrow.Mobility and PUZZLE X. The former will focus on promoting the design and adoption of new sustainable urban mobility models while the latter will aim at using materials deep tech to build a better and more sustainable future.

Together we will try to gather the tools we need to reshape our cities because we all want a better future for the coming generations and cities will be the final battle ground. Cities will be the key, and we are the cities we make.

 

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