Cities Need to be Smart—and Dynamically Contextual to its Residents and Visitors

Over the last decade or so, the concept of the Smart City has evolved. What began as a way to improve infrastructure systems has grown into a much more robust vision of how cities can interact with citizens. This thinking is taking hold across the globe; the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that worldwide spending on smart-city initiatives will reach $124 billion this year, an increase of almost 19% over 2019.

At Lenovo, we’ve been working with cities around the world to implement solutions using digital technology. In Bogota, Colombia, for example, we helped officials modernize and optimize their monitoring system with scalable IoT edge computing. Using this system, police officials can monitor camera feeds from a central location, resulting in faster response times and increased security.

In Suzhou, China, we helped city leaders create an intelligent traffic control system, allowing officials to monitor and alleviate congestion in real time. They can also use the data to make more informed decisions about future infrastructure projects.

Resident/Visitor-Centric Approach

Beyond safety and transportation, digital tech allows cities to build a more connected environment—one that improves almost every aspect of its residents’ lives. The possibilities range from alleviating day-to-day aggravations to opening new horizons. Residents, for example, can use city apps to navigate real-time traffic, pay for parking, schedule a trash pickup or pay a bill. Visitors can find restaurants for their budget and tastes or discover an upcoming concert and reserve their seats.

Cities that leverage digital technology in these and other ways will most certainly see more growth—in population, income and education levels, and tax revenue streams—than those who lag behind.

Not Just Big Cities

Mid-size cities, too, have begun to recognize the potential, and their share of the investment in digital tech is growing. Places like Chattanooga, TN, and Columbus, OH, are making smart-city projects a priority. In fact, digital tech can provide solutions to mid-size cities that larger cities might not need.

Take, for example, Austin, Texas, site of the annual South by Southwest? (SXSW?) festival. This gathering has become so popular that today it attracts around 250,000 attendees each year, most of whom come from out of town. The result is that during the event, the city of Austin, with a population of just under one million, gets stretched to its limits. Traffic comes to a standstill, parking is at a premium, and restaurants are packed as conference-goers scramble to navigate their way.

Locals feel the stress, but can manage through it. They know how to avoid the crowds, get around congested roads, and find a parking spot. So what if the thousands of visitors could experience the city like locals, using a personalized, digital guide?

 Imagine This...

Imagine arriving in Austin to attend SXSW. You grab your luggage and open your Smart City App, which suggest you use a shared van to get to your hotel. When you agree, the app tells you the van’s pick-up spot, and immediately reserves you a seat. While en route, your hotel check-in is confirmed, so when you arrive you only need to grab your key and head to your room. Also during the ride, the app suggests some dining options for the next few days; you choose the ones you like, and tap to make the reservations.

When you get to your room, the app suggest a nearby path for your daily run. It also recommends some convenient shops based on your passion for cooking and gadgetry, and it offers links to coupons for those stores.

This kind of user-centric approach is already being used by tech providers like Google, Yelp, and Open Table--but only in pieces. The next frontier is for Smart Cities to offer all that functionality and more, in one place.

And not just for visitors. Through personalized, contextual interactions, Smart Cities can elevate the human experience—however a person wants to live, travel or interact with the world around them.

Becoming Reality

These scenarios are closer to happening than you might expect. While creating a user-centric Smart City requires a new way of thinking about, investing in, and deploying technology, the fact is that much of the infrastructure is already in place.

By creating public/private partnerships, cities can tap into the tremendous amount of data and APIs that are already available. They can leverage the tech that already resides in stoplight sensors, security cameras, lighting, public transportation and more to harvest their data and use it in new ways.

The next challenge is mainly one of mindset: understanding the tremendous benefit of integrating seemingly disparate components to deliver meaningful experiences. Taking this approach, municipal leaders will not only make their cities more efficient, they’ll also make life less stressful and more enjoyable for the millions of people who visit, live and work in their cities every day.