How Smart Cities Promote Sustainability

The terms, ‘smart cities,’ and ‘sustainability’ often come intertwined; smart city planning involves implementing eco-friendly projects that improve the quality of life within the township while respecting the environment. Smart cities can use information and communication technology to collect data, optimise activities, and improve management, enabling cities to react and offer solutions to specific problems. From recycling garbage to form compost to treating sewage water for construction or cleaning purposes, there are many ways smart cities can promote sustainability.

What qualifies a smart city to be sustainable?

Eco or sustainable cities stand out for their features: smart management, mobility, green housing, and smart economy. A smart city can claim that it's sustainable when its overall goal is to improve urban services and utilise technology to answer the economic, social, and ecological challenges of the city while reducing costs.

Benefits of a sustainable smart city

With the rise of global warming, the greenhouse effect, and trash in the ocean, smart cities are finding ways to minimise CO2 footprint and provide alternatives to shrink cities’ ecological impact. From creating energy-efficient buildings and implementing smart waste management systems to sourcing renewable energy, reducing carbon footprint has become the main driver behind developing smart and sustainable cities. Here are more examples of how smart cities promote sustainability:

• Energy savings
  Smart street lighting can bring significant energy savings to cities, as they require less energy to operate. LED lights last longer and can be dimmed or brightened depending on the time of the day. This means that smart cities can maintain the safety and security of citizens while using less energy.
• Reduced air pollution
  Smart cities are designed with neighbourhoods that are walkable and roads that cater to bike riders. With efficient public transportation, walkable areas, and ride-sharing services, there will be fewer cars on the roadway. This contributes to a significant reduction of pollution coming from vehicles and cars.
• Improved air quality
  With the use of air quality sensors, smart cities can determine the quality of the air and identify causes of pollution. Relevant data can be sent to persons of authority so that appropriate actions can be taken to improve the city’s air quality.
• Prevention of infrastructure failures
  Smart sensors can deliver data showing changes from smart city buildings. Using predictive analytics, city heads can identify areas that need inspection and maintenance and prevent infrastructure failure and costly repairs.
• Enhanced security
  Safety is a priority for all cities. CCTV cameras equipped with facial recognition, motion and smoke detectors, and fire alarms allow municipalities to better monitor the safety of their citizens.
• Optimised mobility
  Smart cities can turn to smart technologies to ease traffic congestion and provide citizens with real-time updates that allow them to navigate the roads better so that there is clean and efficient transportation of goods, services, and people.

Strive for greener urban living with Smart City

There are many more ways that smart cities offer a more sustainable approach when improving aspects of urban living. And as the world’s population continues to rise, with the majority of individuals living in urban environments, sustainability has become a focal point for forward-thinking cities.

At Smart City, we use smart technologies to improve sustainability and transform the way communities live and work. We also have progressive consultants and developers who can help with smart city initiatives to create a more conscious and sustainable future for the citizens and the planet. To learn more about our products, contact us today.