Smart cities collect and analyse large volumes of data from a wide variety of sectors within an advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) network. According to Toli and Murtagh (2020), there are two main types of smart city definitions, namely sustainability-oriented definitions and non-sustainability-oriented definitions.
Sustainability in Smart Cities
The referred sustainability concept encompasses social, environmental and economic sustainability factors. The first type places emphasis on creating a better and more liveable city, by combining soft capital (human and social capital) and hard capital (physical infrastructure). The latter focuses on the importance of the use of ICT to increase the city’s efficiency in carrying out its activities, resulting in a more intelligent and liveable city. That being said, technology plays a less significant role in sustainability-oriented definition compared to the other type, acting as a facilitator to achieve the expected results.
Green Aspects of Smart Cities
Looking at the two definitions, it is often argued that environmental or “green” aspects are inevitably included in both cases. Environmental sustainability significantly influences liveability of a city, and more efficient processes would eventually lead to better environmental impact. However, there seems to be a lack of clarity in the approaches required to become greener smart cities. Leveraging on the ICT technologies available in smart cities, an abundance of data can be used to further decarbonise cities’ operations.
The following list shows examples of ways to turn smart cities into green, sustainable smart cities…
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At NovAzure we work across the energy and mobility sectors, to support the development of data-driven smart city solutions, with our recent work focused on energy efficient grid-edge computing, micro mobility and smart charging of electric vehicles. We are passionate believers in making cities greener and more liveable and have helped our clients to identify and exploit the opportunities in this market. Please reach out if you would like to hear more about how we can help you to support the development of smart cities.
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