With each passing day, we hear more and more about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Every day, it’s possible to test a new product or a new solution using AI. The most recent example of that is ChatGPT from OpenAI. It reached 100 million users just two months after launching [1]. Everyone wanted to test, trick or get some help from ChatGPT. AI suffered a big transformation in the past months. However, Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic since few years ago. It’s not sci-fi anymore!

Have you ever heard of smart cities? Probably yes. Several movies presented us a lot of fictional “smart cities”: robots and flying cars in a very futuristic Los Angeles on Blade Runner (1982) or an AI system that helps to predict murders, in Washington D.C. on Minority Report (2002) [2]. It looks amazing and scary at the same time. Luckily for us, the real smart cities don’t look like the smart cities from sci-fi movies. The development of smart cities is a gradual process. Its main goal is simple: improve people’s life quality on several areas like healthcare, safety, education, etc. A smart city will never make sense without humans or if it is not for humans.

Are you ready for that and to be part of it?

Smart Cities: Sci-fi or Real Life?

As mentioned above, all of us already know some examples of “smart” cities. At least, those which are presented in the movies with robots and very good movie effects. However, on the real life, the concept is different (and more realistic). By definition from European Commission, “a smart city is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital solutions for the benefit of its inhabitants and business” [3]. Another definition from Cameralyze website is “A ‘Smart City’ is an urban area that uses information and communication technologies to help the economy grow, improve the quality of life, and support the city” [4]. A smart city makes effective use of digital technologies for better resource use and less emissions. That means a smarter urban transport networks, upgraded water supply and waste disposal facilities and more efficient ways to light and heat buildings. It also means a more interactive and responsive city administration, safer public spaces and meeting the needs of an ageing population. The goal of a smart city is to improve the attractiveness to citizens and/or businesses by enhancing and/or adding city services, improving life quality and happiness.

A “city service” can be lighting, traffic management, public parking, electricity, etc. And the improvement or the creation of city services with the help of digital technologies ultimately lets a city become smart [5]. The process to become a smart city is never finished. This is a continuous process because technology is evolving every day.

Artificial Intelligence on Smart Cities

By definition, a smart city is not directly related with Artificial Intelligence. However, AI can facilitate and empower the success of a smart city. Smart city solutions powered by AI are able to learn from citizens’ interactions with their communities. It’s expected the improvement of the implemented AI algorithms on the smart cities because there is more and more data being collected. AI can be applied to several areas of a city. It has the potential to study citizens’ habits and improve urban planning and management. It’s able to reveal previously hidden facts, allowing the municipal government to better anticipate the needs of its citizens and provide them in advance.

Nowadays, data is produced in large quantities in cities due to the multiple activities developed on them: public transportation, municipal taxes, police records, traffic sensors or weather stations. It is humanly impossible analyse and evaluate all of the available data and take smart, quick and unbiased decisions. On the other hand, AI can handle massive amounts of data from various sources, allowing the discovery of insights that can be used to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of municipal operations while reducing associated expenses. Furthermore, there is the real-time factor. A human is not able to analyse large amounts of data and take decisions in real-time. A human needs time to analyse, think and take decision. However, sometimes there isn’t such time and AI can help with that.

Several kinds of problems, from traffic to criminality, can be mitigated in “smart cities” using AI and analytics solutions, based on data collected by sensors throughout the urban environment. But what kind of AI-based solutions are there on smart cities?

1.  Traffic Management

The Congestion Impacts Reduction via CAV-in-the-loop Lagrangian Energy Smoothing (CIRCLES) project aims to reduce instabilities in traffic flow, called “phantom jams,” that cause congestion and wasted energy. This is an AI-based solution that uses Deep Learning algorithms to predict traffic congestion and is being implemented, within the transportation industry to reduce traffic and accidents. Additionally, it helps to reduce energy consumption and the pollution created by traffic.

Another solution to traffic management with AI is the detection of road crimes in real time. AI will not prevent or avoid these crimes. However, it will help the humans to react faster to them and making easier to deal with. In Madrid (Spain), already exists an AI-based solution on M-30 highway to help to detect road crimes faster [6].

Source: https://www.emesa-m30.com/the-speed-cameras-of-the-m-30-here-they-are-and-how-they-fine/

2.    Environment

Nowadays, one of the main concerns is environmental issues. AI can be very useful in some contexts. It has been estimated that, by 2030, the application of AI technologies could reduce global GHG emissions by at least 4% [7]. For example, in Singapore, measures like air quality, levels of pollutants and temperature in the city are being collected by IoT sensors. This data is analysed and used to predict where air quality issues are, by AI algorithms. The goal is to help mitigate the effects with effective preventative measures.

3.    Maintenance

It’s quite difficult to handle every issue in the roads of one city. At the moment, there is one solution which analyses the roads with cameras. Using Computer Vision, this solution assigns a score to each segment of a road, indicating where repairs need to take place. This solution allows to save money, since it can prevent a problem from getting worse. At the moment, some cities from United States of America are using this solution, like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, among others.

Source: https://www.roadbotics.com/roadnetworks/index.html

4.    Security

Everyone wants to feel safe. But sometimes, that’s hard to achieve in some cities. That’s why some cities are implementing intelligent security cameras. Cameras are a great tool to get real-time video images. However, someone has to look at the cameras images all the time to detect a possible anomaly. Another way is to leave the cameras recording and just check the recorded images when someone complains about something. And that’s a hard job. AI systems can help with this job using through Computer Vision. A surveillance system supported by a robust AI looking for patterns of criminal behaviour is the equivalent to a team of detectives that never sleep analysing all video in real time. AI-enhanced security cameras can be used in schools and businesses to cut the response time whenever action needs to be taken. For example, if the person that needs to be detected is a “white male wearing a blue shirt”, the AI can differentiate between people entering an area who corresponds to the description and send an alert in real time [8]. His photos and video can also be uploaded directly to local first responders, who can find segments of videos which may contain him based on keywords (white, male, and blue shirt, in the above example) instead of having to search through hours of footage. At the moment, in Japan already exists an AI-powered security camera. This camera has the ability to estimate the poses of a suspicious person who is likely to commit a shoplifting crime.

5.    Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the oldest activities in human history. Over the years, many things have evolved in this sector. And many things can still evolve. AI can help with this evolution. Smart flying drones are used to collect massive amounts of environmental data about field and crops that is later fed to smart machines. There are large volumes of data to analyse and find patterns. That’s impossible to be done by a human in reasonable time with no bias. However, AI algorithms can do this task. They are able to analyse the data in real-time and make complex decisions on the spot, from which fertilizer to use when to switch on the irrigation system. South Korea is already using drones to monitor the soils and take more informed decisions [9].

Source: https://cleantechnica.com/2023/03/21/massive-spray-drones-are-transforming-agriculture-with-win-after-win/

Smart Cities around the world

Still not convinced? There are already some smart cities around the world that have turned into a very good place to live, being a few steps ahead. The study, produced by The Smart City Observatory (SCO), part of the IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC), combines hard data and survey responses to show the extent to which technology is enabling cities to address the challenges they face to achieve a higher quality of life for their inhabitants [10]. They computed an IMD Smart City Index for 141 different cities and ranked them. Below, it’s presented a list of 3 of the smartest cities in the world.

1.    Zurich, Switzerland

In Zurich, there are a lot of innovative solutions such smart traffic management systems, smart waste management systems and smart energy management systems. Thanks to that, Zurich is considered one of the most sustainable cities in the world.

On smart traffic management field, it was developed smart traffic lights. These traffic lights use real-time traffic data to adjust their timing. Using sensors, the traffic lights are able to detect the number of vehicles on the road and adjust the timing of the lights accordingly. In this way, Zurich can reduce congestion and improve traffic flow in the city [11].

Source: https://smartcitiestech.io/2023/04/zurich-tops-2023-imd-smart-city-index/

2.    Oslo, Norway

Oslo has about 1 million inhabitants and developed some smart city initiatives such testing electrical buses, zero-emission construction sites, or developing circle-based waste management and green energy systems.

At the moment, the buildings account for around 40% of global energy consumption. However, smart solutions based on IoT devices can improve energy efficiency in buildings. Installing some sensors allow to collect the needed data to automatically control lighting, heating and cooling [12].

Source: https://smartcitiestech.io/2023/04/zurich-tops-2023-imd-smart-city-index/

3.  Singapore

Singapore launched a set of initiatives called “Smart Nation Initiatives” in 2014. The goal of the initiatives is to transform Singapore in a smart city. And it has been very successful. They developed initiatives in several areas such transport (autonomous vehicles or smart traffic management), urban living (smart homes), finance (digital banking services), education (digital learning platforms) and health (telemedicine services).

Focusing on health field, Singapore looks like another world! In Singapore, there is the Telehealth concept. Telehealth allows the healthcare providers to offer their services remotely. It improved efficiency and productivity for these medical professionals. One example of application in Singapore is TeleRehab. With the help of wearable sensors, therapists can easily conduct and monitor their patients’ rehabilitation sessions remotely [13].

Source: https://www.webuildvalue.com/en/megatrends/singapore-smart-city.html

“Smart” Challenges

Everything new has challenges. And smart cities are not different. However, the demand for smart technology development and IT problem-solving continues to grow. Furthermore, the number of innovators tackling smart city innovations is increasing, existing a lot of challenges to handle. Here are some challenges that a city will face when it wants to become smart [14].

1.    Infrastructure

In many smart cities there are cameras, sensors, etc. How will they be powered? It can be by renewable energy, batteries or hard-wiring energy. Also, it is necessary to have computational capacity to process ingested data. Usually, these resources are expensive and sometimes, cities don’t have the needed money to spend on them. Implement these kinds of solutions can be a lengthy process because it’s necessary to have a good level of technological maturity. And it depends on infrastructure, of course.

2.     Security and Hackers

The use of IoT sensors generates a lot of data. As IoT and sensor technology use expands, so does the generated volume of data. “Data is the new oil” as everyone knows. It brings serious security concerns. What a problem it would be if the IoT sensors were turned off because someone attacked them. Smart cities have the obligation to invest the needed money and resources into security to avoid these problems. On the other hand, tech companies are creating solutions with new built-in mechanisms to protect against hacking and cyber-crimes.

3.    Privacy

Smart cities, as mentioned above, usually have cameras. A lot of them! Every street corner can have a camera that may help to deter crime. However, it can also install fear and paranoia law-abiding citizens. A lot of data is collected every second with cameras and sensors and it need to be well protected to guarantee the privacy people need to trust on smart city solutions. Furthermore, GDPR is very present in everyone’s life and these solutions need to fulfil these requirements to be well accepted by the citizens.

4.    Educating & Engaging the Community

Smart cities imply “smart” citizens! What does it mean? Well, citizens need to be prepared for the transformations that will occur in their city. They need to be engaged to see and feel the real advantages of new technologies. Furthermore, citizens need to feel that they are part of it and that each solution will turn their life easier. The education and engaging of the community are key factors to the success of a smart city.

5.    Inclusion

Many people already have the experience of checking traffic in real time. There are some applications that allow this. But some people don’t use smartphones. The truth is that nobody is forced to have a smartphone, for example. The point is: how will smart technology reach and benefit these groups of people? It’s crucial to consider all people, in all scenarios, when planning a smart city. It’s necessary to create solutions that will really impact the citizens of a city and no one can stay out of it.

Smart Cities: They are real!

Are you already convinced? Smart cities already exist! Many people have been working on developing ever smarter solutions. Artificial Intelligence and IoT are the secrets to leverage smart cities to the next level. Thanks to AI, smart cities can improve their infrastructure, enhance transparency and data privacy, and promote sustainability. However, there are still challenges that smart cities need to overcome such as the lack of suitable infrastructure for smart cities. Despite these challenges, many existing smart cities have already implemented AI solutions to improve their citizens’ lives. As we move forward, it is important to continue exploring new ways to leverage AI in smart cities and address the challenges that they face. Are you ready to be part of it?