Page 15 - Enabling digital transformation in smart sustainable cities – Master plan

Enabling digital transformation in smart sustainable cities – Master plan

Every municipality should evaluate the different services that their city might need. The work
conducted by the ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of Things and Smart Cities & Communities”
and the United Nations-led United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative has allowed
the identification of several ICT services that contribute to the efficiency of city services, as
summarized below.
• Smart water management systems: These systems promote the sustainable and
coordinated management of water (water supply and distribution, water and wastewater
treatment and other municipal-related services like raw water services, drainage services
or reclaimed water services) through the integration of ICT infrastructure (products,
solutions and systems) in order to maximize the socio-economic welfare of a society
without compromising the environment (ITU-T Y-Sup.36). Integrated water management
systems can improve management of water supplies, by ensuring affordable supply and
distribution, safe treatment of water and wastewater, efficient raw water catchment and
drainage services.
• Smart energy management systems: These systems use sensors, advanced meters,
digital controls, and analytic tools to automate, monitor and control the supply and
demand of energy, optimizing grid operation and usage, to ensure reliability, interactivity,
compatibility, energy saving, safety, optimal use of energy from renewable sources and
minimum carbon footprint. Sensors, advanced metering, storage technologies, analytics
and MRV systems are used to manage the supply and demand of energy and optimize
grid operations. These allow for the creation of the conditions for improved access to, and
reliability and safety of, energy systems. Clean energy technologies can help to minimize
greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution, while analytics enable the prediction of
future energy supply and demand, to facilitate grid management.
• Intelligent transportation management systems: These systems need to move people
(and goods) in an efficient, safe and sustainable way. With that aim in mind, they need
to use ICTs, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and radio frequency identifier (RFID) technologies,
global positioning systems (GPSs) and sensors, to be able to collect information about
mobility patterns. Some added benefits of these systems include the capability to locate
and identify vehicles, and monitor and control traffic. As a result, it is possible to reduce
travel times, and traffic accidents. These systems allow people to travel in an efficient,
timely and cost-effective manner. Vehicle tracking systems and analytics have the potential
to reduce congestion, improve road safety and incident monitoring, while vehicle-to-
infrastructure probes allow for more timely maintenance of transport infrastructure.
• Smart waste management systems: These systems will empower the implementation of
waste-tracking based on their ability to monitor the movement of different kinds of waste,
optimize collection routes, connect various smart waste management systems with local
service providers, leverage technology to collect and share data from waste sources, and
transport, dispose of and sort waste. These technologies will help to convert waste into a
resource and create closed-loop economies, fostering more sustainable and productive
uses of waste.
• Smart health system: These systems can convert health-related data into clinical and
business insights, and enable secure communications and information sharing in order
to improve the productivity of the service provided to inhabitants. Examples of smart
healthcare systems include the availability and improvement of remote diagnosis and
treatment, health management systems and monitoring systems, among other online
medical services. To achieve these goals, M2M communications will be crucial.
• Smart education: Education, for adults and children, may be one of the most important
smart city services. The use of ICT can improve education by providing students with
a personalized learning environment (e.g., tailored to their progression level, interests,
learning style), as well as by providing educators with new tools to design learning activities
or opening new communication channels with students, parents and community members.
Online learning platforms may also be used to facilitate training and accreditation of the
youth and adult population. This may include broad applications to improve digital and

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