Mankind is growing unstoppably, consuming more and more resources and facing major challenges in urban development, infrastructure and mobility and the avoidance of climate damage. There are many practicable and visionary model projects for the Smart Cityhow citizens can maintain and improve their quality of life. We present here smart technologies and products for sustainable urban development, framed by breathtaking planned, under construction or already realized mega constructions.

N ARK Doge City model

 

Content

Smart City Cities

Today, many cities are striving to be seen as smart cities or to develop into smart cities. Some of the cities that claim to be such a smart city are Singapore, Amsterdam, Barcelona or Seoul.

Singapore aims to become the world's most efficient city and has introduced a variety of initiatives such as automated transportation and energy efficiency programs. Focused on creating a city free from emissions and traffic congestion, Amsterdam has invested heavily in green technologies. Barcelona is committed to improved air quality and sustainability, using technologies such as intelligent lighting systems to save energy. Seoul aims to improve the efficiency of city infrastructure through intelligent traffic and IoT systems. While these cities are at different stages of development, their initiatives place them at the forefront of implementing smart city solutions.

According to Actility, a provider of industrial connectivity solutions, the city of Vienna has recently set itself the goal of not only becoming a smart city, but is even pursuing the goal of becoming the smartest city in the world based on Lorawan technology .

Vienna positions itself as the smartest city in the world

30.06.2023 | Vienna Energy and actility have announced a strategic partnership to set up a Lorawan network in Vienna. This initiative is in line with the digital strategy of establishing Vienna as the smartest and most livable city in the world. The project pursues the goal of digitizing humanely and supporting the residents instead of supplanting them.

“Wien Energie is an energy supplier that understands the need for strong and reliable partnerships. With Actility we have found a dynamic ally who not only ensures the connectivity for Vienna, but can also help us when things go wrong. With their expertise, we are able to implement and manage sustainable IoT use cases that directly benefit our city,” commented Paul Prinz Wallner, Product Owner IoT – Business Development Telecommunications at Wien Energie.

Actility offers advanced IoT solutions. For the project, the Thingpark wireless platform deployed. Thingpark Wireless is preferred by service providers offering LPWAN connectivity services. Most large-scale, nationwide IoT networks around the world are also based on it. The platform is valued for its security, scalability, carrier-grade availability, multi-technology and compliance with the latest Lora Alliance specifications, which ensures seamless connectivity with other private and public networks. 

Wien Energie would like to simplify processes and with this cooperation will make a significant contribution to Digitization strategy afford to the city of Vienna. Wien Energie's sister company, Wiener Netze, was entrusted with setting up the outdoor network in Vienna. Wien Energie focuses on indoor solutions. The network is currently in a test phase. The implementation of the highly scalable applications and projects is scheduled to start in early 2024. The partnership is also an important step in Wien Energie's commitment to climate protection. By using LPWAN technologies, one's own energy requirements can be significantly reduced and corresponds to the goal of becoming carbon-free by 2040.

Mega buildings for smart cities

Floating City MaldivesIn the year 2022 living on earth 7,96 billion peopleAccording to the United Nations, by 2050 the number is expected to increase to 9,7 billion. Half of all people on earth lived in cities in 2009. The biggest challenge is stopping and reversing climate change. City planners must also take demographic change and the scarcity of resources into account. 

Technologically, the intelligent networking of more and more areas in the municipalities, in things, in trade and in industry is also moving in. In the smart city or city ​​of the future It's about finding smart solutions for all these complex problems. There are plenty of solution examples and visions, sometimes they build upwards, sometimes longer, they are self-sufficient and intelligently networked. And they should not only be environmentally friendly to implement and operate, but also not violate human rights. 

Dogen City – Living on the Floating

N ARK Doge City

The visionaries of the Japanese company N-ARK have developed a floating city. The Dogen City impresses above all because of its size and complexity. According to N-ARK's website, it will be 1,58 km in diameter and about 4 km in circumference. It offers space for around 10.000 residents and 30.000 day visitors and tourists.

infrastructure and housing

N ARK Doge City Ring

The city will be over three infrastructure zones feature: residential, commercial and public zones. The residential zone should include houses, apartments and hotels. The commercial zone accommodates shops, offices and entertainment. Health services, educational institutions and green spaces are provided in the public zone. The Dogen City RING around the floating city includes infrastructure and residential zones. It was designed in the shape of a ship to protect the inner bay and defend against tsunamis.

The city itself is built on a huge platform, thanks to the latest floating and stabilization technology on the open sea swims. This platform uses hydrostatic balancing systems to reduce swell and minimize the risk of flooding even in extreme weather conditions.

Food, energy supply and garbage

N ARK Doge City floating cityThe integrated Energy system of Dogen City will generate a large part of the energy from renewable sources such as wind, sun and sea waves, which will be used directly on the platform. An annual energy consumption of 22.265.000 kW is estimated. The city also has advanced water treatment systems that take seawater and turn it into drinking water. Water consumption is assumed to be 2 million liters per year.

On own farms in the form of Seawater Farming and aquaculture complexes as well as production facilities in the city, the food is to be grown and produced, thus ensuring the nutrition of residents and visitors. Dogen City is estimated to need 6.862 metric tons of food a year

In addition, high technology for waste disposal and recycling is used to achieve almost complete self-sufficiency. N-Ark estimates annual waste production at 3.288 t.

Telemedicine for disease-free residents

According to N-Ark's plans, health care is to be implemented in the “realization of a disease-free society through telemedicine based on living space data”. Residents can access and analyze their health data digitally every day. Dogen City is to offer a wellness and health center for tourists.

N ARK Doge City Data Center


Last but not least, Dogen City has a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure, including broadband internet access, smart building systems and autonomous traffic systems. The developers are planning to house the servers for the data center in torpedo-shaped containers under water. This should make cooling easier and save power.

There are no concrete plans for implementation yet. The roadmap mentions the year 2023.

The Line - The city of the future

smart city the line


28.07.2022/170/500 | 200 kilometers long, XNUMX meters high, XNUMX meters wide is now being built on more than 26.000 square kilometers the 500 billion smart city "The Line" in Saudi Arabia. Every inhabitant should be able to reach everything they need to live within a 5-minute radius. Mobility will only exist via underground high-speed means of transport and autonomous mobility - conventional automobiles: None, because there are no roads. Model projects like this seem long-term futuristic, but construction is already underway here. One percent of the hyper-networked The Line is already finished, and the first apartments should be ready for occupancy in 2024.

 

Floating City in Maldives

21.07.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX | The idea life with the water is the basis of the floating city of the future Floating City in the Maldives. The Dutch company dutch docklands carries out the project, no wonder, because the Netherlands is also threatened by the challenges that rising sea levels bring with them. And so people in Europe have been dealing with housing and water for a long time. The island city offers a sustainable and unique quality of life on the Indian Ocean. Several thousand houses and the necessary infrastructure such as a hospital, school, commercial and retail space are to be built. The buildings are attached to a concrete bed and anchored to the seabed. When the water rises, they simply rise with it, and the corals also get a sigh of relief in this smart city.



Technologies and products for the smart city

Green roofs on smart buildings

Minebea smart city28.09.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX | The number of currently around 45 million smart buildings According to Juniper Research, this should rise to 2026 million by 115. This corresponds to growth of over 150%, which reflects the rapidly increasing demand for sustainability and energy efficiency. This is not least due to the rapidly increasing energy costs.

Smart buildings (including Smart Home), the intelligent technologies for system monitoring and steering from Heating, air conditioning, lighting and video surveillance are intended to make life for residents safe and comfortable. The aim is to minimize the environmental impact and the consumption of natural resources.

On smart buildings that are not used purely for residential purposes 2026% expected in 90 of global spending on smart buildings. According to analyses, this is because these buildings are less complex and because it is more worthwhile at the scale of managing government and commercial buildings. Intelligent technologies are also increasingly finding their way into schools and universities, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as airports and shopping malls.

In the US, the Biden-Harris administration just got the new one Climate Smart Building Initiative released. On the basis of public-private partnerships, this wants to modernize state institutions through energy-saving contracts. By 2030, up to 2,8 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions are to be saved each year. Around 80 jobs are expected to be created.

Heat islands, architecture and monitoring sensors

In addition to installing smarter Sensors, which help install smart management platforms for energy efficiency purposes, smart buildings also mitigate urban heat islands. The (Paradox engineering) PE Smart Urban Network platform integrates third-party sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to sense and monitor environmental conditions. These are also suitable for green roofs and smart buildings.

Heat islands arise because temperatures in cities tend to be higher than surrounding regions due to the heat absorption and heat storage of materials such as betan and asphalt. The replacement of dark materials such as tar for the roofs has been recommended for a long time. Instead become green planted roofs increasingly popular to combat extreme heat in cities. 


Through the jungle of the terminology of the Internet of Things


Exemplary architectural formats are the approximately 700 buildings Green Roof Map in London or the vertical forest by Stefano Boeri in Milan. Such formats already exist in many cities around the world. However, not all green roofs are equally effective: by how many degrees the temperatures can be lowered depends on the variety of plants, the location and other factors. Climate scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies analyzed various green roofs in Chicago and found that larger, intensively green roofs with a variety of plants have a greater cooling effect than extensive monocultures.

One thing is certain: global warming and urban heat islands will intensify. Therefore, green roofs and the conversion of existing buildings into smart buildings are becoming increasingly important Development of climate-neutral cities.


6G network | ANNA, bidirectional radio link, Thz receiver

11.07.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX | It's already throwing today 6G network its shadow to about 2030 ahead. We meet your information needs in terms of new developments for the upcoming mobile communications standard. Only recently did the University of Stuttgart the world's first bidirectional radio link presented with internet connection. Also the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT has the 6G network in its sights and is presenting a Concept for the highest data transmission rates in the Terahertz Communication.


Open source mesh network for today's smart city

26.10.2021 | Interoperability is essential for the development of Smart Cities vital. paradox Engineering, Member of Minebea Mitsumi Gruppe, has dealt intensively with the question of why cities today should focus on openness and say goodbye to proprietary data formats and technologies. The solution is open source Mesh network. Paradox and Minebea are working on this together with the UCIFI.


Hyperloop comes to Munich at the speed of sound

21.02.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX | You probably wouldn't notice so much of the beautiful mountain landscape on a trip with the hyperloops in half an hour from Munich to Berlin. Many research institutes are currently working on the idea of ​​Tesla CEO and SpaceX Elon Musk. The first test tracks are being built. Also the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now started a research program and is building a test track. 


Self-driving cars from the perspective of an automotive supplier

14.08.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX | When will ... arrive self-driving cars because now really nationwide? Is the paradigm shift Autonomous driving in 2020 in the immediate range or next to the Electromobility “Just” another top topic in the automotive industry? Also Minebea Mitsumi develops products for autonomous vehicles. The automotive supplier shows which level we have reached and which intermediate stations the journey into the mobility of the future leads through.


Trend to Smart City through Emotional Artificial Intelligence

21.02.2020 | Artificial intelligence will, according to forecasts, have a major impact on society, culture and the economy. The application of AI in cities and urban environments, Smart City for short, is a hotly debated topic. Emotional artificial intelligence, i.e. AI with EQ, is currently the most explosive in this debate. Minebea Mitsumi deals with the topic of Smart City and AI, because both are product and development branches here.

The emerging technology emotional artificial intelligence aims to allow machines to feel, learn, and interact with human emotions, moods, and intentions. Data such as facial expressions, body temperature, voices or movements are used.

Emotional AI could be used for a variety of purposes. She could for example prevent crime and improve public safety. The idea behind this is to predict individual behavior and intentions. This involves analyzing how a person speaks or moves. This is associated with heart rate and body temperature data.

Of course, emotional artificial intelligence brings with it a great ethical mountain, because it processes highly sensitive, personal data. Researchers at Northumbria University in Newcastle are currently investigating the interface between the opportunities and risks of emotional AI. They canceled the three-year project Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK and Japan on Designing for an Ethical Life 

Artificial intelligence in policing and security 

Experiences and valuable know-how from Japan and Great Britain are to be compared here in order to identify advantages and problems when using AI Emotional artificial intelligence in smart cities. The project focuses on the areas of police work and security. The research team will also evaluate the existing system in collecting and using confidential data related to human emotions, especially in public.

The project will develop a Think Tank to provide independent advice on the use of Emotional Artificial Intelligence to governments, businesses, educators and other stakeholders worldwide.

General technical knowledge

Smart city definition

What is a smart city simply explained? smart city is a city that uses advanced technologies and concepts based on digitization to improve the quality of life of its residents, use resources more efficiently and optimize city operations. A large number of networked IoT sensors and devices are used to collect and analyze data about the city and its inhabitants. This data is then used to improve urban services and infrastructure such as traffic, energy supply or waste disposal in order to save energy, protect the environment or improve public safety.

It is the aim of a smart cityto create sustainable and resource-saving solutions to effectively meet the challenges of urban life. Smart cities are an important trend that can not only improve the quality of life in cities, but also contribute to a more sustainable future. The Smart City Charter provides guidance for the digital transformation of the development of such cities and emphasizes the importance of citizen participation.

What does Lorawan network mean?

A Lorawan network is a low-power wide area network protocol specifically designed to wirelessly connect battery-powered devices to the Internet. Lorawan stands for Long Range Wide Area Network and enables data to be transmitted over long distances with low energy consumption. It is a radio technology that works at the network layer level and offers wide coverage at a low data rate. The protocol is particularly well suited for IoT applications as it offers high building penetration and long battery life. Lorawan is used worldwide and offers cost-effective and efficient networking of sensors and other IoT devices.

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Angela Struck

Angela Struck is editor-in-chief of the development scout and freelance journalist as well as managing director of Presse Service Büro GbR in Ried.

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