India, 100 Smart cities, and 649,481 Villages…………….The Approach and the Possibilities.

Lately, various countries, especially in developed countries including Dubai, Amsterdam and Barcelona have approached to the systematic development on smart city initiatives. Shanghai is in the lead in China.

However, in India, at this point, except for broad themes such as ubiquitous connectivity and community Wi-Fi, details on what smart cities is missing. The fixed definition for a Smart city is first of all required, The Government just cant write “There is no specific definition”. The versatility will obviously happen and all 100 Cities will differ from each other in one way or the next. But even before going for the Smart city are basics already there in the city?

In general, a smart city should have:

(i)            Efficient delivery of public utilities such as water, electricity, solid waste, sanitation, and sewerage as well as associated government services

(ii)          Mechanism for supply-demand matching of surface transport services to provide congestion free roads, and minimal waiting time for public transport commuters

(iii)        Active surveillance, monitoring and alerts at vantage points in the city to provide the much required public safety for citizens and

(iv)         On-demand availability of reliable emergency services such as ambulance, fire safety.

But is it not the above 4 points the spine of any city? Even if it is not a Smart city?

The above 4 points are the links to the Smart city if all thes infrstructure can actually talk to each other in some digital way. If one service lacks behind then the other has to time itself accordingly, just like how Trains communicate if one or the other is getting delayed and how the need change in platforms.

In all these dimensions, information and communication technologies (ICT) plays a vital role. No wonder, companies such as IBM and Cisco are investing millions of dollars in incubating technologies that support smart city initiatives.

An interesting use case is the Department of Energy, US funded smart grid network in the city of Sacramento, California where 615,000 smart meters at customer premises are connected through home area networks (HANs) which in turn are connected to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network. The HANs have wired intelligent thermostats among many other home appliances.

These smart meters enable adjusting electricity consumption within houses in tune with grid supply so that black or brown outs are proactively avoided.

Another interesting case is Smart Amsterdam wherein the Digital Road Authority mines different types of traffic data to provide services such as on-demand parking space, and expected travel time to users, thus reducing congestion, waiting time and the associated air pollution, thereby improving road safety and quality of living of its citizens.

Various kinds of devices listed below collectively form what is called ‘Internet of Things’ that are critical in shaping future smart cities:

* Sensors that monitor the condition of utilities such as electricity, water supply, load on surface transport and capture real-time data;

* Gateways that aggregate real-time data from these sensors, perform local analytics and based on the result, take localized action to prevent possible faults from further propagating into the networks ;

* Communication infrastructure to connect these gateways to server cloud for transmitting data on condition of local area;

* Server farms in a cloud based architecture that warehouses the data; perform real-time mining of such data to provide useful information to various stakeholders through various channels such as mobile devices.

These devices facilitate optimization of service availability in the local area while confirming to the regional and macro level constraints. This provides flexibility to local community in terms of prioritizing the usage of scarce resources.

The second important element is the design architecture of the different ICT components of smart city projects. Though currently only a few firms dominate the ICT platform for smart cities, it is required to build platforms with open gateways, application program interfaces, and open data sets so that expertise of numerous Indian IT firms (both small and large) and the huge developer communities can be tapped for building innovative applications and services.

The sensors, communication devices, and the transmission infrastructure provide huge opportunity for local electronics manufacturing which has been identified as a focus area by the government. The data so collected if made open, provide ammunition for big data and analytics start-ups in the country.

And while all these developments start , along with all thes the architectural infrastructure and urbanization also comes in action. Now working on a Smart city Project also needs to have a Smart way for sharing information to multidiscipline. This is where BIM (Building Information Modelling/Management) with all its advancements and automation comes alongf with BIM is going be a very big help. Till now I have not been part of any Smart city projects, and hope BIM is being implemented to the full extent.

The 649,481 Villages of India

Any development starts with a root, has a start point. There is no doubt seeing the number of villages that India has, it should be first that India goes for a Smart village concept rather than Smart city and modern urbanization. We all know the concept of Evolution right? It’s the human having the curved spine at first and slowly while exploring its option in discovering new ways of survival and inventions of utilities it got the Straight spine, Then the language, Then the culture, and then the social divisions and concept of society.

All this is a permanent learning step of developing any thing for a society, so why not for Smart city First develop the Smart Villages. I cant stop thinking about the numbers 649,481 Villages, that really says something. Agriculture being one of the most important field of work in India, we should think about it that For Smart cities you will be taking away some of those lands too and is it going to be worth it? Not on in the sense of More revenue collection but also ages long ancestral taught jobs that the village families have. All the Urbanization is required for a betterment of the Poorer families too but are the ready to leave behind their family legacy and start on a void of unknown?

Even a small approach Like a development in strategies for better Use of machinery for Agriculture can bring in the Smart concept in a village.

·       An article by Christele Harrouk on Archdaily website Seems to focus on the solution we might be looking for.

AMO, the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), co-founded by Rem Koolhaas and led by Samir Bantal, has announced a recent research collaboration with Volkswagen. Focused on rural areas and the countryside, the partnership will look into the future of rural mobility, through a first conceptual study on electric tractors.

“Volkswagen’s interest in the countryside has triggered a new research collaboration that will spawn several projects through cross-pollinations between architecture, which is traditionally about stability, and Volkswagens expertise on mobility. We are excited to dive deeper into the issues of rural mobility together with Volkswagen’s experts. -- Samir Bantal, Director of AMO”

Initiated by Volkswagen’s cultural engagement team and AMO, the collaboration’s first project is “a study for an electric tractor, developed in and for sub-Saharan Africa to facilitate small-scale agriculture and increase the productivity of subsistence farmers”. Created by Peter Wouda, Design Director of Volkswagen’s Innovation Center Europe, and Volkswagen engineer Holger Lange, the conceptual project is on display at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York as part of the “Countryside, The Future” exhibition by AMO/Rem Koolhaas.

For more Information I would Suggest visit the website.

One Problem like above “Mobility” if solved will bring in more link of urbanization into a village even without loosing it. Think about it. I mean all we Urban people when get tire of the monotonous life like flee into the Nature right so why not Preserve the natural settled villages for that purpose, at-least this can be selfish point we can keep in mind so that the villages too survive in harmony and can also experience the Digital advancement that the world is also enjoying. Simply I am trying to look for a middle ground

Approach for Smart City Planning and 10 Things You Should Consider

Technology has changed the way we live our lives and smart city technology is about to change that even more.

Many modern businesses are focused on digital transformation, using technology to reshape long-standing business processes and remove inefficiencies. Even in traditional trades like, landscaping, auto-repair, etc., businesses can leverage tech to make themselves easier to find, streamline billing, and grow their business.

Increasingly, cities are setting their sights on how they can use technology to streamline and automate all the processes that come from urbanization. From bringing WiFi and wireless networks to new places to collecting data via IoT-enabled devices that can help make real-time decisions. There are myriad ways that cities can transform the way they operate.

However, making these kinds of changes isn’t as easy as setting up a network, adding some IoT devices at key intersections, and calling it a day. You need to be smart about building a smart city. It requires some serious thinking about the scope, implementation, and inter-department collaboration. Here are the 10 keys to considering if you’re planning and building a smart city.

1. Data Is the Foundation

The most important thing to keep in mind as you consider any sort of smart city project is that your decisions are only going to be as good as the data you have coming in. Taking advantage of advances in processing and analytics, therefore, means figuring what data you need, how to get it, how to transfer it to where it needs to be, and how to store it.

Historical trends are particularly important to urban planning and development, so whatever solution you use needs to be resilient, meaning you’ve taken all necessary measures to ensure it will survive no matter what happens. That means redundant backups, both off-site and in the cloud. It also means you need to be selective about what data you need to hang onto and for how long.

A modern smart car, for example, can generate up to four terabytes of data per day. You probably don’t need to keep all of that data in perpetuity. So, setting up local storage and periodically sorting through it for longer-term use on the cloud network is key. Data like HD footage will only get larger. It will be important to focus on what’s necessary (and for how long) in order to make the most of cloud resources.

2. The Network Is the Structure

If data is the foundation on which smart cities are built, then the network is the structure that lets you build off it. Your data, after all, is only going to be as useful as your ability to manipulate it, and that means being able to pull information from across the network at a moment’s notice..

In order to understand how a network should operate at the kind of scale we’re talking about, it’s helpful to look at other implementations out there that approach the kind of complexity a smart city will require. As Julie Song, President at Advanced RF Technologies, writes for Forbes: “Sports stadiums, or any venue that hosts thousands of people in one area at the same time, aren’t inherently capable of supporting adequate cellular connectivity to send a picture, text, or even a phone call. In order to improve cellular coverage and capacity, most of these venues install distributed antenna systems (DAS), with many strategically ‘hidden’ remotes and antennas for all major U.S. carriers in the venue.”

It’s important that these network node placements are close to the action, so to speak. When it comes to connectivity, distance and architecture matter, as do materials. Most of us have experienced that one room of our house where the WiFi signal can be finicky, and usually, that has to do with what materials your signal has to pass through on its way from the router to your device.

The same is true for your urban network. Working with a provider like Cox Business, who understands the ins and outs of networking, and can account for those issues is key.

3. Facilitating IoT Connectivity

On top of the physical demands of your network, there are digital requirements as well. The biggest priority is creating a low-latency environment that allows your decision-making processes to keep up with the blistering pace of 21st-century urban life.

Think through which IoT devices need to connect and how. A sensor that reports the water level of a well once a day, for example, probably has vastly different requirements than a traffic camera at a busy intersection.

For devices that need to run on batteries because it’s difficult to run power to them, a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) protocol is key. This allows them to continue to report information without requiring constant replacement. A camera, on the other hand, needs the bandwidth to support moving large files around as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

4. Modular Infrastructure

If you’ve spent any time reading or working on network security, you know it’s vital to keep your devices up to date. New vulnerabilities are discovered all the time, and you need to be able to patch, update, or replace any device on the network without disrupting daily operations. A modular infrastructure enables you to keep everything updated while also giving you the flexibility to make upgrades or scale up as needed.

5. Security

It should go without saying that digitizing civic infrastructure carries some significant risks with it. A coordinated cyberattack where a hacker gains control of IoTconnected devices could potentially wreak havoc in the physical world.

These concerns are fairly common in any conversation around the Internet of Things, but it becomes amplified when we’re talking about the scale of a smart city. Because it’s civic infrastructure, attackers could be motivated by any number of reasons, from financial gain to political reasons.

The published an excellent and thorough whitepaper, “ .” They outline them like this:

1.   The hardware-based root of trust: Does the device have a unique, unforgeable identity that is inseparable from the hardware?

2.   Small, trusted computing base: Is most of the device’s software outside the device’s trusted computing base?

3.   Defense in depth: Is the device still protected if the security of one layer of device software is breached?

4.   Compartmentalization: Does a failure in one component of the device require a reboot of the entire device to return to operation?

5.   Certificate-based authentication: Does the device use certificates instead of passwords for authentication?

6.   Renewable security: Is the device’s software updated automatically?

7.   Failure reporting: Does the device report failures to its manufacturer?

Answering these questions can point you toward the places where your network may be vulnerable. Security is a constant battle, so it’s important to start thinking like an attacker to understand where you need to shore up your defenses.

6. Privacy from the Ground Up

Another major concern to keep in mind as you ramp up connectivity and data collection is privacy. For all of the benefits that analytics, AI, and big data have granted us, there are some serious issues with how much the government could potentially know about its citizens.

The picture isn’t quite clear yet on how to best find a middle ground, but with regulations like the European’s Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), expect conversations about privacy to continue to evolve. The best thing you can do right now is to keep it top-of-mind in any planning you’re doing.

7. Sensors and Data Capture

It can be easy to find your head in the clouds when you’re talking about smart cities. We talk a lot about data capture without being specific about what kinds of things you’re looking for.

One of the reasons why it can get vague is because this kind of data could include virtually anything. Weather, wind direction and intensity, road surface temperatures and conditions, soil moisture, wildlife, noise pollution, sewage flow rates, valve pressure, water quality, pollen and more are just some examples of the kinds of data you could collect.

Philadelphia is implementing an app to notify drivers when there’s an empty parking spot, which will also reduce traffic and pollution. Boston is looking at all sorts of traffic data to protect bikers and pedestrians.

New York has automated its water meter reading system to streamline usage monitoring and billing. As part of their preparation to host the Olympics, Los Angeles has installed smart street lights that not only save money and electricity but serve as nodes for LGE connectivity, utilities monitoring, air quality sensors, and more.

8. Distributed Data Processing

Data processing is just as important as data collection. As we discussed earlier, not everything you collect is going to be useful for your entire network. It’s important to whittle down what you pass along to the cloud.

In the meantime, it’s useful to have local data processing resources. Distributed processing gives systems like dynamic traffic management the ability to respond much faster. This reduces the need to check in with HQ to make every decision.

9. Focus on Small Wins First

Rolling out a smart city plan at the scale we’re talking about is a big project that can widen endlessly. It can start to feel like the entire project isn’t worth starting if you can’t overhaul several departments at once. The truth is that for a lot of people, talk is cheap.

The trick, then, is to drive bigger transformation by starting with small, tangible wins as proof of concept for your larger goals. Start with one or two doable projects that provide real value to departments and the citizens they serve.

Focus on making people’s jobs easier, and you’ll have their support. It’s local engagement that drives change in the larger ecosystem.

At the same time, that doesn’t mean that you can’t design these projects according to your larger goals. You can still bake-in principals for building a larger network and infrastructure, making it easy to use your early wins as a stepping stone to bigger and bolder things. Think of implementation as a snowballing process, starting small and building up momentum along the way.

10. A Smart City Is De-Siloed

When you’re trying to implement a large-scale change of any type, people can get territorial. Each department has its own unique way of operating. Teams are understandably sensitive to any changes that might disrupt their routine.

The problem that many digital transformation projects run into is different departments within the same organization solving the same problem in different ways. This makes collaboration harder, not easier.

Any smart city initiative needs to make de-siloing a priority. Departments must share data and agree upon formatting standards and procedures so everyone can get the most out of it.

This goes double for any new equipment or other infrastructure. It makes sense to pair a traffic sensor with an air quality monitor, for example. However, that can only happen with effective inter-department communication. Think big, and get everyone involved.

What You Can Do Right Now

Chances are your city is already incorporating numerous IoT and networking solutions to improve operations. The difference between that and a smart city, however, comes down to vision and planning.

Can you think holistically and connect systems to get the most complete picture of municipal life at any given moment? Do you have the infrastructure to analyze that data and then take the appropriate actions? Are you thinking about privacy and security from the start? These keys can help you make the vision of a smart city into a reality.

• Data is the key, but you need the infrastructure to effectively sort, store, and analyze it.
• Connectivity puts insights in the right hands at the right time.
• Security is of the utmost concern when connecting urban systems to a network.
• Consider privacy issues from the very start.
• Look at what other cities are doing to understand what kind of data you should be collecting.
• Focus on small wins to get your smart city project off the ground.
• Executing a big vision means de-siloing, getting all departments to come to the table.

Possibilities

Simple Words of Mies Van Der Rohe:

“Less Is More”

Please lets find the middle ground for solutions

Preserve what Defines India`s Past = Develop What India`s Future will be

Number is nothing, As Mies Van Der Rohe says:

“God is in the Details”

Even if not all 100 Smart city let it be 50 Smart cities

But look after the villages that are already existing.

Hence possibilities will be endless.

References:Various websites.

Article By: Biswajit Chakrabarty