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1
Envisioning
intElligEnt CitiEs
Abstract
As a result of the unceasing adoption and adaptation of newer
technologies in the information technology (IT) space, the most
perplexing yet pioneering IT-enabled digital living is being pre-
scribed for every individual that will be cognitively construc-
tive and contribute to his or her personal as well as professional
life. Increasingly, every common, casual, and even cheap object
in our daily environments is being readied to become smart in
its operations and offerings through a host of edge technolo-
gies. All kinds of everyday devices (consumer electronics, hand-
helds, mobiles, wearables, portables, implantables, gadgets, etc.)
in our midst are systematically empowered to be intelligent in
their actions and reactions through a bevy of smartness-filled
instrumentation and interconnectivity processes and platforms.
Enabling a seamless and spontaneous integration with remotely
hosted software applications and data goes a long way in trans-
forming all sorts of physical systems to be cognitive in their
sensing, interpretation, knowledge extraction, decision making,
and actuation capabilities. All the unique and universal innova-
tions and improvisations in the information and communication
technologies (ICTs) space collectively lead to a variety of smarter
environments such as smarter homes, offices, manufacturing,
hospitals, retail establishments, governments, and so on. Smart
cities are the overarching concept of a number of the aforemen-
tioned smart environments. Establishing and sustaining intel-
ligent cities is one prominent derivative of the praiseworthy
advancements in the flourishing ICT space. In this chapter, we
delve deeper and describe in detail the various insights associ-
ated with smart cities.
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INTELLIGENT CITIES
1.1 Introduction
e information technology (IT) landscape is continuously captivat-
ing owing to the faster maturity of newer and nimbler technologies
that open up fresh possibilities and hitherto unforeseen opportuni-
ties. In particular, manifold new-generation applications and services
are being developed and delivered as a result of the unprecedented
stability of upheaving and transformative technologies. For example,
we extensively read about enterprise (transactional and analytical),
embedded, social, mobile, and cloud applications in the recent past.
Converged platforms and infrastructures are being built to streamline
application design and development (from the ground up or assem-
bling), deployment, management, integration, and delivery require-
ments. In other words, a paradigm shift has occurred. IT has been the
prime enabler of worldwide businesses and today is being prescribed
as a viable, venerable, and value-adding mechanism for empowering
individuals. With self-, surroundings-, and situation-aware technolo-
gies emerging and evolving, scores of context-sensitive services could
be readily built and deployed to enhance human care, choice, conve-
nience, and comfort substantially.
1.2 Unfolding the Smarter Planet Vision
In the recent past, a horde of automation and acceleration technolo-
gies in the IT domain have been positioned to ensure a productive
journey toward the realization of revolutionary, real-time, and real-
world people-centric applications. e well-known and recognized
accomplishments hitherto unheard of include software-defined cloud
environments, cognitive computing, ambient communication, ubiq-
uitous sensing, vision and perception, predictive and prescriptive ana-
lytics based on big data, knowledge engineering, social networking
sites, ad hoc networking, mobility, smart spaces, and digital societies.
e future too seems to be very bright and endowed with numer-
ous pragmatic breakthroughs. Situation-aware edge technologies
(tags, stickers, codes, chips, labels, sensors, microcontrollers, smart
dust, light-emitting diode [LED] lights, motes, speckles, etc.) car-
rying our personal profiles and preferences digitally will map, merge,
and mingle with other entities and elements in our locations (personal
and professional) to effortlessly, precisely, and perfectly understand
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ENVISIONING INTELLIGENT CITIES
people’s needs and fulfill them deftly and dynamically in time in syn-
chronization with IT.
e commonly found artifacts and articles in our midst can be
digitally empowered to be smart in their outlooks. is purpose-
specific transition is achieved mainly by two matured processes. e
first consists of internally embedding multifaceted functional mod-
ules into any tangible objects (mechanical, electrical, electronics,
etc.) using nanoscale technologies and adeptly instrumenting new-
generation devices to be distinct in their characteristics. e second
consists of externally attaching diminutive, disappearing, and dis-
posable computers, communicators, sensors, and actuators. e idea
is ultimately to enable every physical thing to be interconnected;
interactive; and finally, intelligent. For example, our coffee cups,
dinner plates, tables, tools, terminals, tangibles, and tablets, and
clothes will be skillfully empowered to be smart in their interactions
with other products in the vicinity and even with human beings.
Eventually all sorts of physical day-to-day items will be smoothly
transitioned into smart and sentient digital entities. Hence future
generations will no doubt experience and realize completely new
technology-sponsored and flourished digital living. e impact of
IT in our lives becomes bigger, deeper, yet more relaxed and unob-
trusive with time.
Technologies for enabling minimization, interconnectivity, ser-
vices, federation, virtualization, perception, analytics and actuation,
and so on are fast maturing toward producing affordable, connected,
dependable, people-aware, and context-sensitive systems and services.
In a nutshell, technologies are increasingly penetrative, participative,
and productive. Technology-driven integration among digitalized
objects at the ground (physical) level with scores of Web, social,
embedded, and enterprise software applications at the cyber level
will pour out a stream of futuristic, adaptive, and knowledge-filled
and mission-critical applications. at is, IT roles and responsibilities
are bound to thrive substantially in peoples’ lives. Already machines
are talking to one another locally as well as remotely. Services hosted
across geographically distributed cloud infrastructures are interacting
with one another in an ad hoc manner according to evolving needs
to conceive, compose, and provide sophisticated facilities, features,
and functionalities. As the Internet of ings (IoT) idea unfolds and
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INTELLIGENT CITIES
expands, casual and cheap items are being endowed to join in main-
stream computing. Business ventures, investors, and entrepreneurs
are hence strategizing to embrace competent technologies to keep the
edge earned intact, and IT is gradually yet happily moving toward the
originally envisaged human empowerment.
All of these delightful transformations, optimizations, simplifica-
tions, and so on will result in smarter spaces. In other words, peo-
ples’ care, choice, convenience, and comfort levels will reach greater
heights in the days to come. e main purpose of this chapter is to
describe the key drivers and trends, the principal benefits to gov-
ernments and their constituents, the eruption of versatile and value-
adding technologies, and the prickling challenges ahead. We dig
deeper and extract the essential details about the rapidly emerging
idea of smart cities.
1.3 e Need for Intelligent Cities
Cities are emerging as the principal drivers for the overall growth
of nations across the world. ey are the primary innovation hubs
and provide plentiful opportunities for various stakeholders including
immigrants, skilled workers, innovators, investors, local governments,
and entrepreneurs. Highly visible establishments such as universities
and research labs, coupled with clusters of industries and knowledge
workers with higher education, industry experience, and technology
expertise pouring into cities, augur well for the increasing relevance of
cities for their occupants. Businesses and commercial establishments
are more concentrated in cities, empowering them to be the chief job
creators and wealth generators for their inhabitants.
Cities are bound to become the most appropriate building blocks
and the key focus area for nations in the years to unfold. Our cities
are slated to become lovable, livable, and sustainable because of the
smart leverage and immense contributions of highly robust and resil-
ient technologies. e cities of the future are going to be elegantly
and extremely connected and cognizant, grandly synchronized and
IT enabled, and software intensive. All kinds of city resources are
being optimally shared across. City infrastructures are being well
planned, executed, shared, and maintained while taking into account
the changing equations of peoples’ expectations. Above all, the cities
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ENVISIONING INTELLIGENT CITIES
around the world ought to be greatly people-centric, converged, sensi-
tive and responsive (S & R) for any eventualities, deftly anticipative and
active, green, exemplarily exquisite, service-oriented, event-driven,
and so on. Accordingly, newer and nimbler techniques, tips, and tools
explicitly provide a stimulating and sustainable foundation for knowl-
edge generation, corroboration, correlation, and dissemination. us
the concept of knowledge incubation is to become a common entity
by ingeniously leveraging all the significant and astute developments
in the analytics space for cities to be increasingly knowledge-inspired
and inclined. e fast-maturing domain of big data analytics comes in
handy in realizing knowledge cities across the globe.
Clouds will become the central and core IT infrastructure for
hosting, managing, and delivering people-centric city services, appli-
cations, and data. More unified IT platforms will be in place to facili-
tate the formation and maintenance of smart cities. e transition
to service-oriented architecture (SOA) and event-driven architecture
(EDA) helps the prosperity of cities in many ways. at is, besides the
much-applauded cloud enablement, service enablement is going to be
a game-changer for cities of the future to be intrinsically extensible
and sustainable. e accessibility, simplicity, and, consumability of
city services are being quickly and easily facilitated through a growing
array of intuitive and natural interfaces. Service implementation plat-
forms will become pervasive and persuasive too for simplifying and
streamlining smart city implementations and enhancements. National
leaders, government officials, public servants, and bureaucrats will
eventually show greater interest in formulating and forming the right
and relevant policies, powerful processes, and pragmatic practices as
a vital precursor toward intelligent cities. e next-generation cities
will be hugely endowed with competent and cognitive social, physi-
cal, and cyber infrastructures. Ultimately people will be smartest
in their deeds, deals, and decisions ably assisted by a growing array
of networked and multifaceted devices. e city government will
become transparent, auditable, responsible, and accountable. e
service delivery mechanism will go through a series of reformations
and recognitions, insightfully benefiting people. All kinds of wast-
age, pilferage, slippage, and shrinkages can be fully identified in time
and avoided so that human productivity and system efficiency can be
increased considerably.
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