How COVID Pandemic will give rise to Smart City Technology?

The concept of a smart city has been around for the last three decades. The idea was conceived out of the need for integrating the community and people’s daily life with technology.

With the cases of COVID-19 rising in many cities despite major control measures, this attests to the need for implementing smart city concepts to manage and prevent any future outbreaks.

The implication of smart cities can directly result in collecting necessary data from the public, using the data to manage the current resources of the city, and help implement newer plans to adjust the rising needs. With the right data in hand and available resources, the concerned agencies can take appropriate measures during the time of emergency to offer medical, financial, and social assistance.

What is the concept of Smart City?

The term, smart city, was coined in the United States of America, inside the business environment of two corporations, IBM and CISCO, to indicate a point of view of an idealized city connected to topics of automation.

The first smart city was arguably Amsterdam with the creation of a virtual digital city in 1994. Things then speeded up in the mid-2000s when IBM and Cisco launched separate initiatives.

A core concept of a smart city is a municipality that uses information and communication technologies to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public, and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare.

The mission of turning any city into a smart city is to optimize its functions and drive economic growth while improving the quality of life for each citizen using smart technology and data analysis.

Value is given to the smart city based on what they choose to do with the technology, not just how much technology they may have.

Features of a Smart City

• a technology-based infrastructure
• environmental initiatives
• a high functioning public transportation system
• a confident sense of urban planning
• human to live and work within the city and utilize its resources

A smart city's success depends on its ability to form a strong relationship between the government -- including its bureaucracy and regulations -- and the private sector. This relationship is necessary because most of the work that is done to create and maintain a digital, data-driven environment occurs outside of the government.

Each stakeholder of society plays an important role in determining the success of a smart city.

How Smart City is helping curb COVID-19 Pandemic?

With COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is certain: Containing and rolling back the disease is only possible with reliable information about the prevalence of the infection and its spread. The greatest difficulty faced by governmental agencies is identifying individuals carrying the virus and all the people who interacted with them.

With reliable information in hand, states or governments can implement appropriate control measures. They can separate identity and quarantine sick individuals before they can spread the virus to others.

Technology can help overcome human shortcomings.

• With Thermal cameras, infected individuals can easily be identified. Closed-circuit TV (CCTV) networks can follow and trace the paths of those individuals.
• Apps on phones can identify when infected individuals are proximate, alerting the owner to potential infection. It would provide quicker access to an individual’s medical and travel information.
• Accurate information about exposure could create a database that would offer greater insight into infection and exposure.

As a successful example of a smart city,

1. More than 2 million people downloaded a similar contact tracing app released Sunday by the Australian government.
2. South Korea is using its Smart City Data Hub to track the movements of individuals that might be infected.
3. Israel has gone still further and adopted emergency rules that allow security agencies to use phone geolocation data to track individuals that have, or may have, COVID-19.
4. Several tech giants, Google and Apple among them, are developing systems that would use their geolocation data to get a better grip on infection patterns and outbreaks.

How COVID-19 pandemic will give rise to Smart City?

Here are some of the measured already adopted by smart cities around the world. When COVID-19 pandemic ends, it will help explore the ideas that worked to curb the pandemic and encourage the appropriate stakeholders to implement the development of smart city concepts.

A. Improve information and Sharing

The successful prevention of any disease or outbreak is when public agencies can successfully relay the necessary information to individuals. Today, the Internet is accessible in many households. Most individuals own a smartphone which makes it easier to relay information at a go. Public agencies can use the technology to receive information in various forms of data to help implement future endeavors.

B. Help mobilize community-led responses to tackle any pandemic

Bringing in the community to implement any short-term tasks such as crowdfunding to address the crisis, collecting funds to finance meals and accommodation, and creating a network of volunteers across the city can be well managed by smart city technology. One can have access to a large group of people because of the right tools. this can help bring in a community at a short notice.

C. Brings in a collaborative economy to step up to meet new social and economic needs

The collaborative economy setup helps to provide necessary goods and services at a go. In times of pandemic or lockdown when people aren't able to go out, modern technology measures can help bring them the necessary goods to their place. It's easy to deliver meals, recruit volunteers, seek assistance, find transport with the emergence of the collaborative economy,

E. Make self-isolation more bearable

Self-isolation can be equally boring, stressful, and unproductive for many individuals. Technolgy can keep them engaged with infinite resources that are available online. It's easy to learn new things with the internet when online courses and e-books are easily available. Social media is one of the best tools to prevent isolation during the time of social distancing.

F. Better collaboration between cities

Collective intelligence approaches are also enabling better collaboration between cities. Networks of ‘intelligent cities’ are pooling knowledge and resources about effective real-time pandemic responses.

Searchable Design is a premier IT solution in Des Moines specializing in empowering small and medium businesses to drive leads, sales, and deeper engagement with the customer.