3. Smart Infrastructure and Buildings
Townsend talks about the emergence of technologies such as cable technology, microcontrollers, apps like dodgeball, and free public wifi and how they shaped the modern cities. In the case of cable television, regulations by local governments helped to strike deals with municipalities with the investment from industry players. He calls his “Bankrolled by industry and backed by local governments.” Thus both the governments and private industry have to play their role. Citizens can shape technology and empower the cities. Thus involving citizens and providing them different platforms as in the case of graduate programs at NYU for media and communication will enhance the idea of improving cities. Burns stated “Stop paying attention to the technology and start paying attention to the people”, as a UX research I strongly connect with this statement, we strive to develop a user-centered design, run usability studies and set usability goals. Dodgeball started within the university and with SMS service but as new technologies like email immerged it shaped its way around them. As in the case of smart cities, the idea of a smart city needs to be updating, there is no end goal to a smart city. Dodgeball was also a user-centered design, it tries to provide useful information to the users but also helps in making new connections. NYCwireless’s goal to spread free networks for people to use came up with the rise of technologies such as WiFi. But they were competing with companies such as Verizon and T-Mobile so they shifted the strategy to identify important public spaces, they started with Bryant Park and then many others. “Disconnected, it is a place to relax. Connected its a digital waiting room.” Arduino microcontrollers are most famous for their low power, easy to use, and cheap ways of integrating sensors and actuators and relays to automate various projects. Projects like dontflush.me suggest citizens decide what’s gets connected and projects like Arduino provide a platform for worldwide collaborations with people and industries to solve unique sets of challenges like monitoring traffic flow, smart city lights, live weather, sensor-laden rubbish bins, and bus stops which monitor heat, humidity and sound. Wright also discussed other technologies such as rooftop drones, dual-use car parking suggest that we need to think about contingencies and future-proofing of technologies we develop.
Smart cities 2.0 concentrates on connected infrastructure, but also the goal of a higher quality of life for citizens. Smart buildings span industries — they include office buildings, factories, shopping malls, hospitals, academic campuses, stadiums, airports, military bases, and residential buildings The framework discussed divides the smart building into physical assets, digital assets, and use-cases. Smart cities provide different capabilities — Capabilities connecting humans — digital workspaces, mobility with zero latency, secure, wireless printing, and one-touch dial-in for conference calls; collaborate digitally to increase collisions also optimize office layouts for better collaborations and collisions; control of facilities and operations; and conserving resources. To solve a problem in the smart cities we first need to understand the current state and the requirements. Then, identify the gap between the current state and future opportunities and develop use cases. Then, developing a PoC helps understand the measurable value and business opportunities and also test the viability of the scaled solution. Finally, Launch at-scale implementation. This is very familiar with the design and iterate approach we use in engineering.
Although until now our focus was on technology and user needs, our goals must also be inclined to climate resilience. Buildings and smart technologies (due to the standby by power [Darby]) are the major footprints for energy use. We should build climate-resilient buildings by implementing efficiency and sustainable strategies, generating on-site renewable power, and importing clean energy. The energy-efficient building can also be achieved by performing audits, certification, and benchmarking energy performance metrics to design optimization strategies that provide the best impact for the money spent like insulation and improving heating and cooling equipment efficiency. But this can be achieved with strong policies and guidelines from governments, architects, and engineers since there is no one-size-fits-all approach and customized local strategies must be implemented for each use-case. Darby argues that smart device manufacturers and researchers don’t think about end-use efficiency, demand reduction. This distracts us from pressing issues such as affordable shelter and basic energy services. Also, Darby talks about the idea to change our systems from demand response to supply response. This provides a lot of opportunities for innovations in terms of load shifting. As a researcher I would not only concentrate on getting the best technology out to the market but also work on setting power efficiency goals for wearable devices for assisted living being developed by optimizing the processor instructions, using energy-efficient circuits and technologies like OLEDs screens (power efficient variable refresh screens) and hybrid processors, designing algorithms that can switch from low to high power based on usage patterns.
References:
- Townsend, Ch. 4 “The Open-Source Metropolis”
- https://www.wired.co.uk/article/building-the-megacities-of-the-future
- https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/digital-transformation/smart-buildings-people-centered-digital-workplace.html
- Sarah J. Darby (2018) Smart technology in the home: time for more clarity, Building Research & Information, 46:1, 140–147, DOI: 10.1080/09613218.2017.1301707