Trends and Technology will redefine the way we Live!

The world population has crossed 7.5 Bn in 2018 and it is expected to cross 9 Bn by 2030. 55% of the world live in cities and expected it to cross 60% by that time. The average traffic speed in these cities is already as low as 6-8 Km/hour, air/noise pollution levels are on the rise and even emergency assistance takes considerable amount of time. Similar to the traffic situation, the public transport, water, solid waste, energy, health care, citizen security etc are also facing similar challenges to cope up with the population explosion and the scale of urbanization. This would redefine the way we live, through technology and culture/mindset change!

Vertical Living : If the cities grow in the horizontal way the problem will compound and the growth will go vertical and 100 plus floor buildings will become a norm in cities. Office spaces, apartments for living, shopping, hotel, school, hospital, sports, entertainment etc will be housed vertically or in the adjacent connected buildings without much of horizontal spread. Lifts will travel horizontally too, will become primary mode of travel in such buildings and the lift speed will go beyond 20Km/hr means 3 times the speed of traffic speed in cities. The adjacent buildings will bridge across highways and railway lines and autonomous electric shuttles will transport people across buildings through the bridge interconnects.

Living closer to Earth: Living closer to the earth’s surface will be relatively expensive but will also grow wherever the space is available but the square foot expectation per person/family for living will rapidly decline. Integrated townships will also have Office spaces, apartments for living, shopping, hotel, school, hospital, sports, entertainment etc and the tenants may travel out of townships rarely. Public transport, shared Taxis, e-bikes and walking will redefine mobility. Walk ways scientifically designed around the targeted destinations could make more than 20 percent of the people walking and push typical walking distance beyond 400 meters. It will also positively add to the health and social aspects of the citizens.

Digitization of services: The City/Township services, Health care, Agriculture, Commerce, Industry etc will be digitized to bring some level of automation and also manage them through insights and trends. This will be predominantly done as  mega IoT solutions with sensors/cameras in the field for monitoring, Network switch/Gateways send the data through wireless/fiber connectivity to the data center where applications are hosted to provide the targeted functionality/experience operations and also the end users.

Once the basic digitization is implemented and they start working well and generate quality data, the data will be unlocked from individual silos and the utilities and services will interconnect and interact. Internally driven/open innovations will create applications for service delivery efficiency and citizen’s convenience as a market place for data as well as services. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine learning(ML) will be the major enablers for it as a base technology like the Internet today.

Engagement with citizens on topics like how their electricity/water consumption is compared to their peer groups, health indicators, contributions to air pollution levels/global warming, their suggestions for improvements of utilities and service delivery, actions taken etc will accelerate the mindset/culture change.

Changing business models: Lack of jobs, salaries not in tune with living costs and limited saving potential will reduce the demand for owning assets. Even the basic needs like food, clothing, mobility will adopt new business models like Taxi/shared ride against owning a car, online shopping and home delivery against spacious shopping malls and restaurants. Pay per use will become a norm for cars, living/work spaces and even household items. 

Mobile phone would become the device for people to connect and interact with the external world for information, entertainment, commerce, services and financial transactions and the advertisements will become mostly context aware and tailored for the individuals.

Work place changes: Technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, good data connectivity, low power devices, better batteries etc will mature much faster and new business and jobs will be built around it. At the same time the robots of all types will take up the mundane tasks and most of the jobs and recruitment in future would be to get the best out of these robots.

An AI powered interactive animation to deliver content, clarify questions, pull the data from all available sources, correlate and make recommendations and decisions can make the presentations anytime and anywhere and also could replace many of the advisory, training and supervisory  jobs unless these roles add significant value as coaches to achieve the desired results. Working from anywhere as a person or as a robot and be available through Audio/Video online will become more acceptable, effective and efficient.

Watch out : In the past, the businesses and people had to work with only people but with people and technology off late. The business and individuals will lose their ground unless they bring significant value add on what technology could offer and solve the real issues the world is being challenged with. Bigger ones may get killed as the smaller ones may adapt faster and survive. Watch out, internalize and adapt seems to be the only way out!

Your thoughts and comments are most welcome!