This week we heard that the UN is calling a code red for humanity, that drastic measures need to be taken now to mitigate climate catastrophe. As much as I might try to think that always taking public transportation might make a difference, the truth is that at this point we need the type of drastic reduction in fossil fuel usage that only a massive change in the way we live can bring about.
Luckily, a lot of work has already been done to develop technologies to curb global warming. The Smart City movement has always been about making communities more efficient and more ecological. They have always been dedicated to improving people’s lives through greener, more local options. And now we need to not only continue developing Smart City technology but also work on implementing it globally.
Here are three ways that Smart Cities can save the world:
1. Transport reform – Smart Cities are places that not only use efficient transport options such as bicycles, electric scooters and electric buses but they also reduce the need for transportation. This is a big point and one that the COVID lockdowns have actually helped with. We have found that long commutes in fossil fuel burning vehicles to sit in front of a computer in an office building are unnecessary. The city of Barcelona has been working to reduce the need for commuting for over a century with its famed Superblock model. Other global cities have worked to make their cities smarter over the last decade by allowing workers to work from locations closer to home before the pandemic moved offices to workers living rooms. The blueprint is there, we just need to use it.
2. Energy reform – As the weather gets more extreme, the more we will need tools to protect us from it. These tools all require energy so our level of energy consumption is unlikely to go down. The solution is more sustainable energy sources and more efficient consumption. Luckily most sustainable energy comes from sources that planet earth has in increasing abundance – wind, sunshine and our warming earth. Smart cities have been learning how to harness renewable energy for years and the technology is already quite advanced. Again, if we look at the advances that global cities like Reykjavic having been developing over the years, we can learn how to convert our cities to renewable energy. (Actor Zac Efron did a great show on Reykjavic but there are many cities in the US and abroad who are converting to renewable energy.)
3. Global collaboration – The last century of human civilization has been a dramatic one. We have made enormous advances in technology and income equality has decreased significantly worldwide. These two developments have combined to accentuate differences between cities and neighborhoods. Smart cities have sought to change this by developing inclusive policies for transport and housing and part of the process almost always includes international benchmarking. Most of the work I have done in the smart city sector has been related to global collaboration and this is something we desperately need to continue to make sure we are aware of new developments across the globe so that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
As more people wake up to reality of the looming climate catastrophe, more resources will be made available to fight for the survival of the humanity but, for the most part, much of the changes needed are already being developed and only require mass implementation. And this only requires an openness to changing the way we interact with our planet.
smartcityperspectives.com 