Could Caracas become a smart city one day?

*Note: the original version of this article was published in Spanish for Asilo Digital in August, 2022.

In a world where almost everything is digitized, it is not unreasonable to imagine the concept of a smart city. The world currently has approximately 6.5 billion subscriptions to smart devices (Dea, 2022), such as phones, watches and computers that allow people to integrate the digital world into their lives.?

The field of urban intelligence is a convergence area for architects, civil engineers, computer scientists and lovers of those science fiction movies in which ultra-futuristic cities appear, made up of hundreds of skyscrapers and lots of neon lights. In the midst of this context, curiosity gives rise to a doubt: could this scenario occur in La Sucursal del Cielo?

Before answering this, it is necessary to know more about this novel concept.

What is a smart city?

A smart city is an urban structure that uses information and communication technologies to "improve operational efficiency, share information with the public, and provide better quality of government service and citizen welfare" (TWI Global, 2020).

The main objective of a smart city is to improve the elements that make up the city to improve its environment, promote its economic development, improve the quality of life of its citizens and provide higher levels of prosperity and sustainability (UNDP, 2022).

The aspect that gives intelligence to a city of this kind is its ability to analyze large amounts of data in real time to improve its management and to make a more complete analysis of the different mobility patterns and density relationships in its different areas. The interactions between urban elements could improve the understanding of city dynamics, and thus approach urban planning from a better perspective (Aksun-Guvenc, 2022).

Smart urbanization could become one of the most significant aspects during the evolution of the 21st century. According to data from the United Nations Development Program (2022), it is estimated that by 2050, almost 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas. This factor, in conjunction with global population growth, will lead to the creation of densely populated cities (also known as "megacities") which will require efficient management to meet the demand for accommodation of its inhabitants and meet their wellness needs.

What technologies characterize a smart city?

For a smart city to work properly, it must include some of the following technological elements:

• Artificial intelligence: it can be perceived as the field of information technology that is responsible for creating algorithms capable of acting and constantly learning from their mistakes. For example, if a computer determines that there are patterns to blame for causing traffic in busy areas of the city, it could divert certain drivers to less traveled roads, relieving road congestion.
• Machine learning: is a type of artificial intelligence that allows software applications to be more accurate in predicting outcomes without being explicitly programmed to do so (Burns, 2021). Taking into account that the smart cities initiative has information management as a fundamental point, the prediction of future results is necessary to save costs and, at the same time, devise possible scenarios. For example, the construction of a park or a highway could be projected with machine learning processes without having to invest material resources, and the projection of its impact on the population of a given area can be measured in advance.?
• Application programming interface (API): This interface consists of software that sends information back and forth between a website or an application and a user (APImetrics, 2020). In the context of a smart city, it is necessary to channel the information that is collected in a productive way. For example: if a camera identifies that there are no people waiting to cross at a pedestrian crossing in the early hours of the morning, it can transmit the signal to a traffic light so that it changes its light and allows cars to move forward.
• Mesh networks or node technologies: It is based on the use of a type of online data transmission in which a device (node) transmits its own data, while serving as a relay for other nodes. In the same way that a Wi-Fi signal booster receives data from a router and redistributes it, a wide variety of devices could amplify the communication between others, and at the same time, be interconnected with each other. In a smart urbanization, the interaction and interconnection between sensors that capture information, emitters of information and people is of extreme priority.
• Cloud computing services: consists of the delivery of computing services, storage, databases, networks, software, analysis and intelligence, through the use of online servers, also known collectively as "the cloud" (Microsoft, 2020). The implementation of a cloud would be vital for a smart city, since it would allow decentralization and improvement in the transmission of relevant data for the management of processes that could increase the well-being of the inhabitants. For example, it could help collect and analyze large amounts of information that would be extremely useful when making planning decisions.

Importance and necessity of smart cities

The implementation of smart cities could solve current problems in many populations. For example, an intelligent parking system could reduce the frustration of many people who cannot find places for their vehicles in crowded areas, and at the same time, make it easier to pay digitally, instead of having to queue at ticket offices.

In the environmental and energy conservation field, in a smart city the lights could be dimmed in streets that are completely empty. Pollution would potentially be reduced, after its sources are traced and reduced, and mechanisms to improve waste collection systems in the most appropriate way could also be analyzed.

Smart infrastructure, such as buildings, antennas, information management centers and road flows, could provide information about their condition through sensors, automatically indicating whether they need repairs or not.?

Additionally, the smart construction of cities could make them not only more efficient but also economically sustainable, by allowing the creation of new economic and professional opportunities, as well as an increase in the quality of life of the people who live in them. All this implies a great degree of dedication in the sector of urban management, higher levels of inclusion of all social sectors and the construction of more ecological spaces.

The topic of smart cities will gain a higher level of importance with the passage of time around the world. Its conceptualization is framed directly within the Sustainable Development Goal number 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and at the same time, indirectly affects goals 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Development).?

History of smart cities

One of the most relevant antecedents in the construction of smart cities was the work carried out by the Office of Community Analysis of the city of Los Angeles (California) during the 1960s and 1970s. By using computer data, cluster analysis, and infrared aerial photography, this institution collected data, produced reports on neighborhood demographics and housing quality, and helped to allocate resources to prevent blight and combat poverty (Vallianatos, 2015).

Another important example was the creation of the National Computing Board in the city-state of Singapore in 1981. In the late 1970s, the Singapore government realized the importance of computerization in computer-related processes. with the economic productivity of the country. Due to this reason, an institution was created within the Ministry of Finance which had the main objective of improving the efficiency of government operations and its range of services related to the public, as well as the promotion of information technologies at a general level (Tan, 2021).

From these events, smart cities have continuously developed, and it is likely that in the future they will acquire a higher level of relevance, innovation and automation. Since 2017, the Institute for Management Development (institution created in the city of Lausanne and with offices in this Swiss city and in Singapore) has been in charge, together with the Singapore University of Technology and Design, of creating an index that offers a balanced perspective on the economic and technological aspects of smart cities on the one hand, and the "human dimensions" of smart cities (quality of life, environment, inclusion) on the other (IMD, 2022).

In the most recently published Smart Cities Index (year 2021), the highest scoring smart cities were determined to be:?

• Singapore (Singapore).
• Zurich (Switzerland).
• Oslo (Norway).
• Taipei (Taiwan).
• Lausanne (Switzerland).

This indicator assesses residents' perceptions of issues related to the technological structures and applications available to them in their city. In the case of the 2021 edition, 118 cities around the world were ranked by capturing the perceptions of 120 residents in each city. The final score for each city is calculated using perceptions from the last three years of the survey.

Sustainability of smart cities

One of the needs of the population concentrations of the future is that they will have limited resources that they must use in the most prudent way. To achieve this, they must ensure efficient distribution aimed at avoiding avoidable waste.

Although today's cities have great advantages, such as economic development concentrated in areas with small geographical footprints, they also have notable disadvantages in the environmental sector, since they have a much higher energy requirement compared to rural settlements.?

However, through the application of emerging technologies, these defects could be considerably reduced, since the application of a more efficient transport system based on renewable technologies could contribute to considerably reducing emissions of harmful gasses and electricity consumption.?

Intelligent transport mechanisms also lead to a reduction in vehicles in urban areas and imply positive collateral effects, such as a reduction in traffic, fuel consumption and an increase in free time among citizens.

Therefore, the sustainability of smart cities, if implemented properly, would not only be of an ecological and energy nature, but also a matter of social sustainability.

Challenges in the development of smart cities

Despite the benefits that smart cities could bring, there are also a set of negative measures that need to be considered and debated at a global level. Among these, the need for the following aspects can be found:

• Coordination between the public sector and the civil sector: cities represent the closest administrative level to citizens. Innovative aspects regarding public services and security could be gradually improved through techno-governance initiatives. However, there must be a balance between the public sector and the civil sector, to ensure that citizens' private data is not violated or used in a way that harms their freedoms. It is necessary to highlight that the management of information could lead to the implementation of oppressive or coercive mechanisms if it is applied in the management of unscrupulous people.
• Transparency: Effective data governance ensures that data is consistent, reliable, and not misused (Stedman, 2022). Therefore, this concept must have an outstanding character in intelligent urban planning. People who live in these cities must consider the types of data they need to provide in order to do so and must provide their consent for their data to be collected and analyzed in order to improve their quality of life.?
• Proper information management: The key features of a smart city are big-data (information collected from many different sources and its analysis), followed by the intelligent use of data to improve the lives of its residents (Aksun-Guvenc, 2022). In order to handle this amount of information, intelligent urban planning would require the use of servers with a large amount of storage, continuous internet connectivity, backup power to avoid failures or disruptions in the operation of public services, and the constant presence of professionals, with the knowledge to manage and maintain the systems that support it. The need for these resources is the factor that could prevent the rapid overcrowding of these types of cities around the world in the course of the coming years.
• Security: Even if it goes from a physical plane to a digital one, the rights of people must continue to be respected. According to the Coalition of Cities for Digital Rights (coalition of cities created in 2018 and that help each other in the formulation of policies based on digital rights), privacy, data protection and security should be among the most fundamental digital rights. According to what is stipulated by them on their website, people must have privacy and control over their personal information through data protection in physical and virtual places, to guarantee digital confidentiality, security, dignity and anonymity, and sovereignty over their data, including the right to know what happens to it, which entities use it and for what purposes.
• Continuous connectivity: obtaining big data also requires constant interconnection between the information collected, in order to extract its usefulness. Therefore, smart cities need telecommunications networks with high data transmission rates. Fortunately, the emergence of technological communication standards such as 5G technology networks and Wifi-6 could solve this problem by providing connectivity platforms in which data is transmitted in real time. It would also be convenient to have ecological mechanisms for the creation of clean energy, such as nuclear energy, to guarantee the continuous operation of the constituent elements of smart urban planning.

Caracas as a future “Smart City”

Caracas is the capital of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a country located in the north of South America. Some relevant aspects of this city are the following:

• Date of foundation: 1567.
• Geographical area: 433 km2.
• Population: 2,956,813 (during the year 2022).

The geographical position of Caracas constitutes its main advantage. Venezuela has a privileged position as it is located near the waters of the Caribbean Sea and has the potential to establish itself as a point of geoeconomic contact between the northern and southern hemispheres. Being so close to the equator, it also has a pleasant tropical climate and its territory does not have high levels of propensity to suffer from natural disasters.

In terms of population factors, Caracas is the seventh most populous city in South America. With almost 3 million inhabitants in its territory, it can constitute an excellent testing ground in the field of application of Big-Data solutions as a mechanism to improve the levels of well-being of the Caraquenians.

The implementation of smart urbanizations would not only benefit the common residents of the city, but would also affect the populations of the dormitory cities that surround the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, such as La Guaira, the Guarenas-Guatire region, los Valles del Tuy and los Altos Mirandinos.

A significant aspect is that with this balanced amount of population (not as high as that of a metropolis, but not so small as to have a minor impact), Caracas could be a beautiful example of a smart city in South America in the future, maintaining a friendly rivalry in the technological field with cities such as Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

?To achieve this objective, elements located at different levels are needed:

• Structured political-legal framework: initiatives must arise from the legislative power to define the conditions for the implementation of smart cities and their operations. This body of regulations must be the result of political discussions between the government area and civil society, so that it has principles that have been agreed upon through dialogue. Their constituent elements must be known by its citizens, in an exercise of transparency.
• Presence of foreign economic and technological capital: in terms of resources, the creation of smart urban planning requires large investments in research and development. In this area, the presence of foreign economic investments could be a powerful tool to accelerate the construction of this concept in the Venezuelan territory, since numerous companies could be encouraged to develop initiatives that could be useful for them to acquire higher levels of trust in the nationa territory and better economic returns in the future. They could also contribute by exchanging knowledge, or by supporting academic entities such as universities and study centers of architecture, civil engineering and technology.
• Mass dissemination of knowledge about smart urban developments: the future citizens of these urban developments need to know more about the technology involved in smart cities, as well as the digital rights that they imply. The new rights and duties that people will have should be considered, and in turn, a culture system should be established that allows the preservation of the elements that make up smart cities. A kind of techno-citizenship or a technology-oriented civic duty.
• Need for qualified professionals: the new perspective on new urban settlements also requires people with the analytical capacity to develop and maintain them. This will give way to the need for competent people in areas such as architecture and information technology, and it may even be possible for new careers to emerge, which will be a field of convergence between the two areas. Regardless, the existence of people who are in charge of the management and continuous implementation of the operational elements of smart cities will be a key element in the development of this concept.
• Development of ecological mechanisms: due to the fact that smart cities require continuous interconnection and must be operational at all times, energy costs are an element that must be considered. The application of this measure will require energy sources that are sustainable and friendly to the environment; and that allow meeting the new energy demands without creating new pollution problems. Therefore, the application of clean energy is a requirement for the implementation of more developed urban planning.

It is interesting how in recent years, technologies developed by its inhabitants have emerged in the Venezuelan territory that allow better transportation in certain cities. Examples are smartphone apps like Ridery, Yummy Rides and Wawa, projects that have been dedicated to solving problems through the use of apps.

In terms of construction, companies such as Innotica and the Smart Ccs project have emerged with the aim of harmoniously integrating the fields of urban construction, automation and ecology technologies.?

Taking these aspects into consideration, it is possible to affirm that the constitution of Caracas as a smart city in the future is highly plausible, but there are still some obstacles that must be gradually overcome to achieve this task.

Some current existing problems in Caracas society, such as the deficiency in the provision of public services like water, electricity and waste collection, as well as insecurity, could be automated and optimized through the use of new Big- Data technologies.

But to achieve its implementation, there must existe a a joint participation between the public sector, the private sector and a civil sector that needs to be informed about this issue, so that their individual freedoms are not violated.

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