Page 11 - A U4SSC deliverable - Accelerating city transformation using frontier technologies

Introduction

Cities of the future

Along the same trajectory of the Internet paving the way for the information age in the late 20th
century, frontier technologies are laying the foundation for a new technological age that is characterised
by the digitalisation wave, heavily predicated on data and associated analytics. The combination of
these three elements can profoundly reshape the way cities operate and meet the basic needs of
every citizen. Globally, cities are integrating technologies into their daily operations to keep pace with
urbanisation. This is exemplified by the city of San Diego installing over 4 200 intelligent sensors to
transform the city’s streetlights into smart infrastructure as part of its efforts to implement one of the
largest smart city platforms in the world. These sensors are capable of generating metadata on vehicle
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counts, temperature, pedestrian counts, parking space, and other information on the surrounding
environment, all in real time. The collected data are then analysed by artificial intelligence (AI) powered
software, giving city planners the insights needed to improve traffic congestion, find empty parking
spaces, enhance public safety and monitor the surrounding environment. In South Africa, small
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unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been deployed to map the health condition of vineyards. The
high-resolution images were shared with farmers and soil scientists to optimise efficiency of spraying
nutrients / fertilizers and irrigation.
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“Cities of the future are urban agglomerations that harness
the power of frontier technologies to improve the quality of
public services and promote long-term sustainability.”

As this report will demonstrate, the application of frontier technologies can be extended to practically
every urban operation, from improving access to health services and monitoring climatic conditions
to enhancing emergency responses.

The importance of “cities” has been well recognised by the international community, as evinced by
the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
These international instruments have supported a unique vision for cities of the future without delving
into specifics. With cities increasingly embarking on their respective smart city journeys, the concept
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of cities of the future is also gaining clarity. In the context of this report, cities of the future can be
deemed to be urban agglomerations that harness the power of frontier technologies to improve the
quality of public services and promote long-term sustainability.

Cities become smarter and more sustainable by leveraging data insights obtained from intelligent
sensors and other connected devices to improve operational and environmental efficiency. Therefore,
the “city of the future” can also be referred to as a smart sustainable city (SSC).

Accelerating city transformation using frontier technologies | A U4SSC deliverable 1