Page 484 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

The convergence of building and ICT industry enables all players to:

 Create new business opportunities in the intelligent buildings and ICT industry;
 Satisfy the technical demands of the intelligent building market surrounding big data and data
analytics applications;
 Bring more investments from vendors of both industries as a result of strategic partnerships
between data analytics and building technology providers, which may include tenants and
building owners.

5 Climate change adaptation

Climate Change related severe weather events are increasing in frequency and severity. These
severe weather events include (but are not limited to):
 Urban floods;
 Extended heat waves;

 Ice storms;
 Extended cold spells;
 High winds / tornadoes / hurricanes.

These weather events have both a long term and short impact on the commercial building
infrastructure in cities.
During short‐term events, building infrastructure is impacted by major structural damage, damage
to a building's support and utility systems, closure and loss of revenue among other items. Over the
long term, severe weather and more extreme temperatures lead to accelerated degradation of a
building's envelope, utility systems and infrastructure. Steps need to be taken to maintain the
building exterior and envelope to prevent damage to the building and its' equipment. At the same
time, the design and intelligent infrastructure of the intelligent building can assist with minimizing
the effects of extreme events.

In order to prevent damage from flooding events, major HVAC, electrical and communication
equipment should not be located below or on grade locations or if it is not possible to move
equipment above grade then equipment rooms should be sealed against water intrusion.
Elevator hoist ways should similarly be sealed and procedures developed to ensure that elevators
are automatically sent to higher floors in the event of a flooding event.
Demand response capability means that the intelligent building is able to reduce the building's
electrical load for HVAC and/or lighting during periods of high system wide demand, typically at the
request of, and perhaps with incentives from the utility. This is particularly needed during extended
heat waves to ensure that power grids are not overly stressed.
Proper design of external landscaping and storm water management facilities can reduce the
potential effects of severe rainstorms and urban flooding.

Intelligent buildings normally also have back up power systems that can automatically provide
power for short or extended periods of time to allow for evacuation or maintain building operations.

474 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications