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What Smart City developments will we see in 2020 and beyond?

Smart Cities are cities increasingly introducing applications that improve citizens lives, cut costs, boost efficiency, and introduce revenue sources. However, this requires long-term planning, creative funding approaches and citywide fibre that supports converging networks and vast data volumes. 

Long-term planning and network convergence

To reap the benefits of a Smart City approach, infrastructure needs to supports multiple applications in areas such as lighting, traffic, and surveillance. Formerly siloed systems are merging onto a single platform. As wireless infrastructure becomes increasingly centralized, it makes sense to converge wireless backhaul traffic onto fibre. However, this requires careful planning, to avoid digging up streets repeatedly. 
Equipping lighting poles with fast connectivity means security, mobile connectivity or traffic management functions can be added, for example. Of course, backhaul capacity should be sufficient to avoid future network upgrades. City planners increasingly consult with network equipment vendors, operators and ICT/IoT developers to make informed infrastructure development decisions.
 
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To drive costly Smart City initiatives, new business models are needed. Increasingly, municipalities are investing in tandem with private parties, such as investors, property developers, operators, financial institutions and solution providers in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). Private organisations take on part of the infrastructure investment and share the risk, which is offset by government support and recurring revenue streams. These PPPs may span decades and facilitate economic growth on a scale and timeline that would otherwise be impossible. Services can be developed, rolled out and delivered faster, and quality and reliability can be tested and guaranteed.

5G cellular technology is a vital Smart City driver and fibre deployment is an essential enabler for applications. Reduced latency and power requirements coupled with higher connectivity density make 5G an ideal IoT wireless connectivity solution. However, 5G requires denser small cell deployments owing to millimetre wave technology’s inherent distance limitations. Rollout is just getting started and networking solutions such as LoRaWAN and Sigfox may fill the void until ubiquitous, fibre-backed 5G is available.

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Together, 5G and WiFi 6 will hugely improve home and office connectivity. WiFi 6 offers download speeds three times faster than its predecessor and can support more devices. This is essential, as the number of devices on average WiFi networks is expected to grow from 10 today to 50 within a few years. Developments in Conversational AI will eventually make interaction with services more rewarding, immediate and natural, as more complex conversations are analysed and context better understood. The combination of 5G, WiFi6, and conversational AI are expected to result in vast improvements in the areas of Everything as a service (XaaS) and more User and Customer experience (UX/CX).
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Focus On

Security

 

As cities collect, analyse and utilise more data, data protection concerns will grow. In the US, most states allocate less than 3% of IT spending to cyberthreat. A lack of substantial cybersecurity measures makes cities an easy target for attacks. Safety is increasingly approached in a structural, fundamental way, focused on resilience and responsiveness.

 

Faster, more accurate Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will make navigating vast amounts of data and extracting valuable information easier and faster, supporting digital transformation in Smart Cities. Large data sets can be analysed in a fraction of the time that would have been required a year or two ago.