The IV RECI Smart City Congress, which closed today in Madrid, has addressed the challenges that cities must face for a digitalization that benefits people
More than 50 mayors, nearly 150 local and regional authorities and 170 speakers from the administration, private companies and universities have exchanged experiences and good practices on smart cities throughout the two days of the Congress..
Energy efficiency on an increasingly stressed network, sustainable and connected mobility, management of basic resources, how to use massive data collection to make decisions and improve services, and public-private collaboration were some of the key issues put on the table at the IV Smart City Congress, held on the 19th and 20th at the IFEMA Conference Centre (Madrid).
One of the maxims of this meeting was that intelligence is only useful if it serves to improve people's quality of life, and the initiatives promoted by city councils throughout Spain to achieve this goal are moving in that direction. Measures that must cover both the large and the small, which aspire to achieve a technologically connected and efficient territory, truly competitive and which results in economic opportunities and prosperity. Governing cities and improving services in the most efficient, safest and least expensive way, optimising resources.
Green spaces are gaining ground in cities that have become emissions sinks after planting thousands of trees or that have opted for home automation to centralize irrigation. Cities that have digitalized their systems with connected cameras and sensors to move towards green, habitable and digital spaces.
AI-supported Digital Twin technology opens up a universe of possibilities for managing urban services and anticipating scenarios and incidents. A field that ranges from taxes to traffic management or response to extreme weather events, but also a challenge due to the need to manage data from very diverse sources that are secure, rigorous and homogeneous.
The need to achieve advanced protocols and standards that allow obtaining reliable knowledge of the city to make decisions is one of the great challenges for urban managers. In this sense, the development of 5G connectivity will improve urban response, not only in terms of speed, but also latency and number of devices.
Sustainable and connected mobility is one of the main concerns of smart cities. Public services are now more than just a transport network and are becoming an important part of a mobility ecosystem, increasing their electric fleet and using real-time data to provide better customer service.
The projects presented seek public and private collaboration to find solutions for transport, mobility and urban logistics. Along with the progress and development of autonomous vehicles, this meeting highlighted the concern for the future of the electric vehicle, considered a good option for decarbonisation, although it should not be the only one.
There are also developments in Artificial Intelligence that measure the volume of vehicle emissions or create noise maps and obtain real-time and historical information by hour, day or month, on which strategic decisions can be made. Added to this are smart car parks, which measure occupancy in real time, and monitor air or water quality thanks to IoT technology.
Some mobility solutions also offer solutions for monitoring the status of traffic signs (legibility, orientation), lighting, street furniture, the dimensions of fords or the surface area of terraces in bars and restaurants, in this case, to ensure correct taxation. All this without neglecting smart lighting, cybersecurity or the circular economy.
Cities are facing the energy challenge of massive electrification putting pressure on the grid. Powering hundreds of millions of devices with a 100-year-old grid requires a new generation of grid technology based on IoT or AI solutions. A big smart grid.
Some examples of good practices seek to reduce the impact of the activity with electric charging points, energy independence or the installation of photovoltaic panels in buildings.
Other pioneering projects offer a high-capacity wireless network through public lighting that connects cameras, sensors or mobile equipment.
Nearly 700 cities around the world have already implemented, or are in the process of doing so, some kind of development related to the metaverse in urban management. These incipient 'CitiVerso' projects anticipate the many possibilities that this technology has in applications as diverse as health, education or tourist services. A CitiVerso that must be accessible, safe, equitable.
Technology and digitalisation will be key for Spain to consolidate its competitiveness and leadership in the tourism sector. Local administrations are committed to sharing data between institutions as a tool to detect trends and anticipate their arrival.
Municipalities face the challenge of managing data for more efficient management of the territory. To do this, they maintain agreements and synergies with private companies that offer them data on consumption, preferences and expenditure, from which they can carry out analyses and take measures in each case.
Cities with small populations face seasonal peaks in traffic, and through digitalisation they can optimise their resources to guarantee their services with the same staff: water, parking, rubbish. Problems that are exacerbated in areas with water stress, where it is essential to control water loss.
