Smart Cities and Safe Cities an increasingly present future

In this article, Laurent Pellois of Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure, reflects on the challenges faced by Smart Cities and how these projects have an increasingly important 'safe cities' component, including, among other features, the management of emergencies and urban incidents.

The future is urban or, at least, That is what the accelerated process of urbanization that is currently taking place seems to indicate. According to the latest data, more than 70% of people will live in urban centers in the coming years. 30 Years. Cities are becoming more and more important every day and the inescapable interdependence between all of them is becoming more and more evident. The Challenges of Our Generation, in this way, They are beginning to find solutions coming not only from large governments and international organizations, but also from the City Councils of the world's major cities.

The idea of Smart City, o Smart City, It refers to the use of digital and the different technological advances as tools that allow us to imagine a more efficient and sustainable city.

We are talking about technologies that are capable of both collecting and storing huge amounts of data of all kinds, immediately and accurately. Certainly, We are already used to getting up-to-date statistics on our city's air quality, the state of public transport or road traffic, But, Are we making the most of the possibilities offered by the means available today?? Are our cities really smart??

Pollution, Climate change, the integration of the immigrant population, the efficient management of all kinds of public services in the city, and, Very important, Emergency management are some of the main global challenges facing Smart Cities. For example, in September 2014, in Montpellier (France) Severe flooding ensued that threatened to completely collapse the functioning of the city. The implementation of an effective communication system made possible both direct contact between the rescue personnel and the fire brigade and the rapid and personalized management of more than 13.000 Calls from neighbors in need of help.

The extension and complexity of the communication networks of cities would go hand in hand with the constant and updated collection of data that is also converted into information, I mean, in organized and understandable data that allows you to make the most appropriate decisions possible. In this sense, Smart Cities would be characterized by collaboration between the most diverse urban actors, as well as by the continuous availability of information extracted from these large volumes of data.

It's understandable, then, that many have pointed out the great potential of the Smart City in the field of security and defence. In a context marked by almost permanent terrorist alert, It is essential to have a communications center that allows the coordination of the different security forces, Intelligence Agencies and Policymakers, and at the same time be able to provide an effective response and reliable information to citizens in such delicate and uncertain times.

That is why we see that Smart Cities projects (smart cities) have an increasingly important component of Safe Cities (Safe Cities), including, among other features, emergency management, Urban Incident Management and Resilience.

Beyond the management of emergency situations or urban services themselves, Smart Cities are conceived as cities whose governments make decisions that are more effective and coherent with their corresponding realities. I mean, The possibility of having solid and accurate information about different aspects of the daily lives of the people of a large city will allow its policy makers to act in a localized and personalized way, addressing the specific needs of each neighbourhood and better understanding the problems of its citizens.

Empowerment, This is, The empowerment of all the actors in a city by the hand of technology, be these the City Council, their companies or, Of course, Its Citizens, It is one of the main ways to meet these challenges and achieve truly smart cities. Providing all of them with the necessary tools and resources to get involved in the management of their own city is vital to its achievement.

New York, London, Paris, San Francisco and Boston currently top the list of the world's smartest cities. Nationwide, Three Spanish cities are located in the 50 Top: Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. Smart Cities are therefore, Absolutely., An increasingly present future and it will be those cities that know how to see and act accordingly in the face of this reality, the ones that lead the way.

Laurent Pellois

Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure Area Manager

 

 

 

Other articles on Hexagon Safety, Hexagon Safety&Infrastructure