Page 131 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Shift 10: Smart Cities

Tipping point: The first city with more than 50,000 inhabitants and no traffic lights
By 2025: 64% of respondents expected this tipping point to have occurred
Many cities will connect services, utilities and roads to the internet. These smart cities will manage
their energy, material flows, logistics and traffic. Progressive cities, such as Singapore and Barcelona,
are already implementing many new data-driven services, including intelligent parking solutions, smart
trash collection and intelligent lighting. Smart cities are continuously extending their network of sensor
technology and working on their data platforms, which will be the core for connecting the different
technology projects and adding future services based on data analytics and predictive modelling.

Positive impacts
– Increased efficiency in using resources
– Rise in productivity
– Increased density
– Improved quality of life
– Effect on the environment
– Increased access to resources for the general population
– Lower cost of delivering services
– More transparency around the use and state of resources
– Decreased crime
– Increased mobility
– Decentralized, climate friendly energy production and consumption
– Decentralized production of goods
– Increased resilience (to impacts of climate change)
– Reduced pollution (air, noise)
– Increased access to education
– Quicker/speed up accessibility to markets
– More employment
– Smarter e-government

Negative impacts
– Surveillance, privacy
– Risk of collapse (total black out) if the energy system fails
– Increased vulnerability to cyber attacks

Unknown, or cuts both ways
– Impact on city culture and feel
– Change of individual habitus of cities

The shift in action
According to a paper published in The Future Internet:
“The city of Santander in northern Spain has 20,000 sensors connecting buildings, infrastructure,

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