Chapter 8 - Smart city functions

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G are establishing the building blocks of the post human smart city. These high impact industrial and commercial applications are contextualized within the evolutionary development and hierarchy of smart city functions. By exploring their inter-relationship and co-dependencies of the systems functions and subsystems at structural, operational and strategic levels, we can begin to visualize the impact these technologies will have on the design, operations and DNA of smart cities. Building on a combination of the hardware infrastructure that enables smart cities and diverse forms of AI and their capabilities and applications, smart city functions — Smart Mobility, Smart Environment, Smart People, Smart Governance, Smart Economy and Smart Living — are connected and optimized as individual and collective functions within an integrated city operating system. This new alignment allows cities to function much better, reducing noise within system functionality while creating efficiencies. Edge computing is an example of system optimization through the reduction of energy consumption, more efficient data processing and overcoming latency and bandwidth issues. The facilitated convergence process, enabled by AI, contributes to the desired outcome. The true smart city is not just about technology, but convergence on a new holistic, biomimetic system architecture level that optimizes the health and wellbeing of the users, the city and the operating system itself.