Building Smart Cities of the Future

Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people will join them in cities around the world, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. These additional populations threaten to overwhelm existing city infrastructures. Whether we realize it or not, we are on the verge of a sea change in urban life.

Fortunately, we are developing tools that will make our cities smarter, providing not only the capacity to support this new wave of urban citizens, but to significantly improve their livability. Together, the next generation 5G wireless network, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are already demonstrating the potential to solve problems ranging from traffic congestion, to public safety, healthcare and environmental sustainability.

As the global population continues to grow, cities will need to adapt to support the unique needs of their citizens. For a coastal city like New Orleans, water management and resilience may be essential. For a city like Washington, D.C., traffic management may top the list.

Or, take San Diego as an example. The city is deploying an intelligent IoT network citywide in partnership with Intel and others to optimize traffic and parking, and better facilitate energy management. When completed, the network will include 3,200 intelligent sensor nodes that are turning street lights into vision-enabled connected devices.

San Diego didn’t install cameras just for public safety reasons; it’s part of a system to handle everything from traffic management and smart parking to pedestrian safety. And, because the system can “learn” it has the potential to improve over time as computer vision and artificial intelligence progresses.

More than that, San Diego’s smart city IoT deployment is a platform that will attract new investment, innovative businesses and talent. As cities compete globally for talent and investment, smart cities will be an indispensable catalyst for economic growth and improvement in quality of life for urban citizens.

In a practical sense, IoT is already all around us – traffic lights, air quality sensors and parking meters to name a few. What comes next is expected to be an exponential expansion of that universe to include billions of connected devices, driven by the 5G network.

The 4G network we use today is synonymous with speed. 5G will be synonymous with intelligence. The potential billions of connected devices – cars, street lights, cameras, utilities, buildings – will communicate at speeds 10 to 100 times faster than today, with ultra-low latency and massive capacity.

Pair IoT and 5G together with AI and we’ll begin to see smart cities working quietly behind the scenes to make our streets safer, people healthier and our day-to-day lives more efficient. In short, 5G will be the flexible, wireless infrastructure of the future.

Intel is helping cities modernize with 5G connectivity, enabling innovation in three key areas – public safety, mobility and sustainability. According to a recent survey of urban decision makers at The New York Times Cities for Tomorrow conference in New Orleans, 67% believe 5G to be extremely important to the future of smart cities.

As the 5G network is deployed, an ecosystem of businesses, organizations and government agencies will install billions of sensors and devices for discrete purposes that, when connected, fulfill a common mission. These devices will access computing and analytical capabilities at the edge of the computing cloud to make critical real-time decisions about traffic control, energy and resource usage and emergency response.

Major cities around the world are beginning to evaluate how they can make smart cities work for them. As they do, it’s essential to think big while starting small. Cities are also using Digital Infrastructure to improve the efficiency and utilization of existing physical infrastructure. For example, more efficient traffic management can alleviate the need to build a new highway. Rather than shoulder the cost of new construction, local departments of transportation would be able to leverage connected sensors and devices to optimize traffic flow, deliver actionable insights on transportation infrastructure and do a better job of getting people from Point A to Point B.

As urban populations around the world surge upward, the challenges we face can seem daunting. The good news is, Intel, our partners and cities like San Diego are building a smart and connected future that will help us rise to meet them, building safer, healthier and more livable cities for all of us.

Sameer Sharma is General Manager of Intel’s Smart Cities IoT Solutions.

The news and editorial staff of The New York Times had no role in this advertisement’s creation.