CASE STUDY Transitioning to Smart Cities Global cities Smart cities could be one solution. Because 80% of the city’s residents Our cities could prove more resilient live in public housing, government account for more and better able to grow sustainably agencies work with private firms to than half of the by integrating big data, IoT, and test smart home technologies. These advanced analytics. include home energy and water world’s population. The execution of this concept is management systems and monitoring still in its infancy. Yet planners and systems for the elderly. The city has The United Nations politicians hope that leveraging also deployed health pilots to support projects they will ‘smart’ technologies will meet the its growing elderly population with demands of citizens and deliver new services designed to promote grow to 68% of value-added services more efficiently. independent living and quality care. the total global Connected networks, smart devices, Connected Life is a Singapore- sensors, and applications will based health care solutions provider. population by mid- collect data on energy usage, traffic Its home monitoring solution uses century. patterns, waste, pollution, and crime, DEX – a decentralized citywide and optimize infrastructure and data exchange – to provide insights management systems. to health providers, the insurance How will cities Making that data available to industry and the government. The provide energy, everyone through open-access solution combines smart technology systems would allow citizens and (motion and sound IoT sensors, data water, sanitation, businesses to benefit directly. analytics and AI) with 24/7 personal Inhabitants could utilize the assistance and customized insurance and other basic information to create the insights coverage. It provides caregivers with needs as their they need to make better decisions. real-time information and insurance companies with better data. populations Singapore is an early mover in this Other cities such as Amsterdam, balloon? field. With Virtual Singapore, the city Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dubai, provides a dynamic 3D city model London, and New York are following and collaborative data platform suit. They’re also creating citywide using government and private-sector data platforms to enhance services data. Public and private firms can and create economic value by access this platform to develop tools developing practical use cases for for testing new services, such as analytics and AI applications. simulating crowd dispersions from future sports venues. While these developments’ potential is exciting, they also create privacy and data security risks that need addressing. 14