URBAN ECOSYSTEMS OF THE FUTURE: HOW TECHNOLOGY CREATES SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

The advent of industrialization has seen a massive shift of people from the countryside and villages to urban environments. Per a UN report, a point has been reached that now 55% of global citizens inhabit urban environments and by the 2030s, it expects this figure to rise to 61%, then to 68% in 2050.

Despite the advancement of technology and jobs, this leap has brought with it an array of environmental ills.

• Air, water, and noise pollution;
• The dwindling of green spaces;
• Threatening of animal habitats;
• Problems with rising temperatures and sea levels;
• Mismanaged waste and its adverse effects on nature and urban dwellers.

CHALLENGES OF URBANIZATION
A substantial degree of strain has been detected on those living in big-city environments.
1. The heat island effect: this is the phenomenon in which heat is trapped within an urban milieu by the artificially laid stone surfaces which results in the heat lingering around, thereby posing a hazard to those susceptible to higher temperatures, especially during abnormally hot periods.
2. Flooding: neighborhoods’ impervious surfaces lack sufficient drainage entry points to halt flooding in the event of excessive rain downpouring.
3. Water recharge disruption: greater runoff is produced in an unnatural way, polluting water bodies.
4. Poor access to green spaces for underprivileged communities: certain city neighborhoods don’t get the same access to exercise, recreation, and nature spaces that others do, which impedes the air quality and opportunities to exercise.
5. Climate change: the sea levels rise, resources become more scarce, and weather calamities destroying locales become more frequent.

Nature feels the pressure clamping down on it, of course.
1. Habitats being disrupted and cut off: animals and trees have an ever-reduced area to inhabit and cannot cross into greener pastures.
2. Industrial waste: a big impact on marine life.
3. Proliferation of urban pests: some animals have long coexisted excessively well around humans and have exploded in numbers, irritating residents.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF MODERN URBAN ECOSYSTEMS

The heavily populated environments that the majority of global citizens inhabit now are at the complex confluence of massive man-made infrastructure and pre-existing natural flora and fauna. These include factories, public squares, highways, streets, malls, and homes juxtaposed with fields, rivers, biospheres, forests, and city gardens.

This interplay includes:
• bees pollinating flowers;
• trees ingesting carbon dioxide to produce oxygen;
• water being filtered for drinking and utilization;
• transportation releasing CO2 into the atmosphere;
• energy being used and materials are processed, generating waste.

TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

The World Bank claims that 70% of all global emissions are caused by motor vehicles. Technology offers a pathway to accelerate sustainability and resilience in infrastructure. By enhancing project transparency, incorporating resilient designs, and optimizing material usage, digital tools can significantly streamline construction and maintenance processes while building public trust in the process.

USE OF IOT (INTERNET OF THINGS) FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING URBAN SYSTEMS

As time goes on, the Internet of Things is rendering life ever more livable and convenient. Cities are increasingly gathering all the right data with the sensors in the grandest variety of objects. These sensors are providing extremely handy data – from structural repairs that are proving necessary in a subway or bridge to excessive concentrations of particular toxins in the air.

Cities are stepping up to achieve these things. Cameras are being used for surveillance to detect potential
threats and abnormal behavior, and in San Francisco, mapping is provided to drivers on where they can find an available parking spot instead of having to drive around as well as which roads are the most congested. These information systems can also inform drivers of peak traffic times for particular roads.

Amit Samsukha of Emizentech wrote in a Forbes piece that logistics companies using IoT in their vehicles will dominate those who do not: “By understanding the current technologies, the challenges to adoption, and future technological trends, leaders in the logistics industry should give themselves the ability to compete, and perhaps even the upper hand, in guiding their companies through the ever-changing technological climate.”

Buildings have begun regulating temperatures on their own. When a conference room is full of people, technologies are detecting this and increasing the air conditioning while shutting it off and shutting the lights off when nobody is present. On top of all that, as data is collected over time by censors, an extensive variety of data-driven solutions can be produced on top of that.

Primary applications for the IoT include:
1. Ecological monitoring and pollution tracking;
2. Parking spot search;
3. Smart transport networks;
4. Emergency services systems and public safety;
5. Energy preservation;
6. Improving the quality and utilization of water;
7. Waste handling;
8. Congestion mitigation technology;
9. Ecologically friendly city planning;
10. Infrastructure upkeep.

A couple of the most wonderful ways of preserving resources and guaranteeing greater safety and convenience for the public are AI-powered transportation and utilities. On the one hand, drivers can be evaluated based on their driving styles, from whether they are running errands while they’re supposed to be working to alcohol sensors to how often they change the oil to how often they are abruptly accelerating and pumping the brakes to traffic violations.

These factors both help save resources for people. In combination with advising people of common risks on particular roads and recommendations on the speed to drive to maximize fuel efficiency, this renders the roads safer by enforcing careful driving techniques, arranging for necessary maintenance when the system issues an alert for one, and keeping fewer vehicles on the road at once.

On top of that, the fantastic technology that these same types of sensors provide has finally taken us to the era of driverless cars. Now, people are able to order taxis for super-low prices, all without having to worry about any erratic behavior at all. They will also no longer be able to defraud insurance companies on false accidents. Citizens will also be warned of:
• GPS vehicle tracking;
• flight status updates;
• inventory management.

In the future, people are going to look back on the current era of utilities as if we were living the tough manual life. Home appliances operated by various IoT companies are becoming all the rage. Right now, a mother who is out at her son’s soccer game can preheat her oven so that it’s ready for the turkey by the time she gets home. If she forgets to turn on some calming music for a baby, she can turn it on manually.

As for the roads, electric cars and buses seem to be the future, as electric cars require a far lower fuel cost for consumers. Electric vehicle sales have recently tripled; meanwhile, as electric vehicles have grown more affordable, they could potentially be facilitated by electricity sharing via a common public power grid. To reduce the wait times at charging stations, some cars could share their electricity with each other during hours when it’s not being consumed.

Data on these drivers is also collected in quite large numbers, which will be used to enhance their engagement and their contentment with the vehicles. This has been proven to be key in observing regulatory initiatives.

URBAN ECOSYSTEMS AND ECOLOGY

Urban ecosystems cannot be looked at as a separate locale from nature as they affect nature both in different and indirect ways. Topical issues in the world today like carbon emissions, undersupplied drinking water, and pollution in the atmosphere and streams trace back to decision-making, behavior, economics, and politics in city environments.

Indeed, cities depend on nature as well, as research has shown that a lot of cities require a natural body of water several times its size in order to perpetuate itself. These same political tools and civil society will become a necessity for preservation of a clean environment and resources that can be used and reused for natural preservation.

A curious phenomenon within this dynamic is the substantial boost of certain animal populations compared to others’. Rats and pigeons are exploding in population, while certain others, like big cats, are dwindling at a rapid rate.

Green buildings and energy-efficient technologies
Green buildings refer to buildings made using materials and performed in a style that is easier on the environment. There is an official green certification system in different countries. For instance, these are the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) frameworks in the United States and the UK, respectively. The way a building qualifies for this is based on such criteria as energy efficiency, the materials used, innovation, water use, and interior space quality.

Popular eco-friendly construction materials include:
• recycled steel;
• bamboo;
• hempcrete;
• cork;
• reclaimed wood;
• rammed Earth;
• mycelium.

The materials used are designed to keep the amount of energy used to a minimum, as well as using renewable resources when possible. This includes insulation with a high R-value as well, such as closed-cell spray foam. They also use technological innovations like thick windows, that don’t pass heat, and top-notch air conditioners. On top of that, there are also green roofs, which use solar panels and wind turbines, which allow for even more power to be generated. Sometimes, these even create surplus power.

Furthermore, there will be a lot of money to be made in green home improvement. As Victoria Borrows of the World Green Building Council stated, “New sustainable buildings alone are set to represent a $24.7 trillion investment opportunity in emerging markets by 2030.”

Another important aspect of that is the surroundings of homes and commercial buildings. Surrounding it with greenery improves air quality. Homes using solar panels can at times gain too much heat. Solutions for this include a cool-roof system, which involves the way insulation is installed. Another strategy is for homes to face north and south where the sun doesn’t travel.

Overhangs and electrochromic glass can also can block excess heat from getting inside a house, while Trombe walls absorb heat from the sun. For conservation, smart dishwashers, fridges, and washing machines help out a lot. Some buildings are completely zero-energy, relying only on solar energy and wind. Lastly, landscaping and designing systems can also be organized to handle stormwater overflowing.

Waste and water resource management
There are a lot of global issues surrounding water in the modern world. Chief among these is water security and floods. A lot of the water people have to acquire is not clean and thus causes a large variety of diseases. In other cases, there may not be sufficient water to help crops grow. The World Bank quoted a Yemeni woman and her plight: “After my children grew up, we started to rely on water trucking—but the prices are exorbitant. We had to save up money and sometimes had to choose between buying water or food.”

A few of the main focuses resolving around water are:

• Where the water is taken from: can be surface or underground water. Where a company can retrieve its water, via what method, and in which quantity is determined by regulations.
• How the water is used: a different permit must be obtained for each form in which water is going to be used by a company. These can be part of its production or hygiene. The business must submit a report of what kinds of contaminants the resulting water will contain.
• How the water is disposed of: this too will require multiple permits and documentation of the way this water is disposed of, what chemicals set off into the air, and how much.

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The World Bank predicts that the supply of rainwater will be 40% below demand, requiring shrewd planning and coordination to deliver this supply. In addition, it continues that by 2050, food production will need to increase by 50% to feed the 10 billion people that will be around.

As of right now, the Chair of the Global Citizen Board, Peter Murphy, reports that the food is out there, but it’s just not being used properly to account for global food security needs. “It’s not right that 3 million children die each year of malnutrition because of where they are born. There is enough money in the world to solve these problems… All I say, all we say, is to do something.”

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL CITIES

Everyone strives to live in a place free of stress, pollution, noise, and hazards. Wouldn’t it be a dream come true to have our hassles accounted for so that on your way to work, there is almost no traffic jam, all the while filled with the satisfaction that you conserved resources and left as small a carbon footprint as you possibly could? Now we are going to look at some of the frontrunners in realizing real smart, green cities.

Let’s first consider, though, what makes an advanced, environmentally friendly city.
1. Walkable: This is a gift that keeps on giving. People want to be able to walk outside, see beautiful scenery, and have activities to engage in without having to drive a long distance. This is good because it gives people much- needed exercise, but also it eliminates the need to consume resources and fill the city with smog. People can also, of course, take a bike or scooter around town.
2. Sustainable design: Buildings constructed with high-R-value walls and thick windows help conserve heating and cooling. Other materials, like recycled steel, reduce the need for excess hazardous production. These types of measures help reduce the emissions being released into the city and the atmosphere.
3. Easy-to-access public transit: The ideal environmentally friendly city is one where people share their form of transportation – in a bus, a subway, a cable car, or something of that nature. This is because each individual automobile produces extra emissions, especially if a road is congested with bumper-to-bumper traffic a lot.
4. Ubiquitous smart technology: This helps plan out roads that feature certain hazards or have a lot of traffic jams, which can also be adjusted by IoT detecting this and evening out the traffic light timing to even things out. If maintenance is required, a technician will be alerted and arrive on the site to address it.
5. Public-private premises: Highrise buildings eliminate the need for people to travel long distances. If apartments and strip malls or regular shopping malls are located inside the same building, people will enjoy greater social cohesion with each other, making for a stronger community.

ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIENCES OF SINGAPORE, STOCKHOLM, AND TOKYO

Let’s talk about three remarkable smart, green cities from which to draw inspiration.
Singapore
Singapore is known by many as a “garden” city and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked it the top smart city in the world to boot. At one point, it was a city full of muddy, polluted rivers with very small territory for everyone to live in and, therefore, lots of slums. The limited living space spurred the city state’s leaders to set their sights on environmental consciousness.

As soon as it began developing its city, it incorporated vegetation throughout its planning. Starting in the 1960s, it planted well over 55,000 trees as per the Parks and Trees Act. In 2014, PM Lee Hsien Loong launched the Smart Nation initiative, which managed to solve a myriad of practical problems for its citizens. There is an autonomous fleet boating around delivering the disabled, students, and senior citizens. Its overcrowded buses became a thing of the past.

Singapore has an app for just about everything. After all, it is a tech hub. This allows everybody:
• government services;
• a digital ID they can use for official purposes;
• incident reporting, in case people are breaking the law;
• mergency updates;
• user-centric news feed.

Stockholm
Stockholm is a city of 987,000 people spread across several islands. It is quite conscious of rising sea levels, and in 2010, it was awarded the title of being the first European Green Capital. For that reason, Stockholm has always been among the most ambitious in fighting carbon emissions. Right now, the city has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2040.

The capital city created the Digital Demo Stockholm arena to conduct projects revolving around sustainability, innovation, and digital developments. To achieve this, the city council’s own Stokab built the world’s longest network of fiber optics, with 23,000 points extending to nearly every commercial property and 90% of families in the area. Permits are offered digitally by the city, as well as a Smart Traffic app and even a work route-building app.

The city is using smart LED lamp posts that cut its power consumption in half. It operates with its data available in the public domain so that additional app developers can create convenient tools that can make city dwellers’ lives easier. Stockholm itself has never produced many industrial goods and is more of a service-based economy, so it has never had any incentive not to consider conducting a green, smart society.

Tokyo
Tokyo is a massive metropolis, its population numbering well over 14 million. For that reason, it has always felt the pressure of taking a responsible attitude toward its carbon footprint. Tokyo has always had a tradition of cleanliness and respecting the environment. It has a massive 80,000-hectare network of parks and gardens throughout the city without producing much waste.

Considering how crowded Tokyo is, having somewhere for people to escape the hectic urban environment as well as enjoy some better oxygen with all of the industry that’s going on in the big city. Besides, all of that carbon getting released is going to need greenery to balance it out.

Tokyo has an AI-powered facial recognition system via cameras that takes a single second to recognize a person, even if they’re wearing a facemask. Toyota has also produced robots that can help disabled people and elders with their limitations. The city is known for its extensive subway, railway network, and ubiquitous elevators and escalators. The city’s also committed to becoming 5G by 2030.

New smart city projects (e.g., NEOM in Saudi Arabia)
Other smart cities aren’t relegating themselves to the back seat either. There are a lot more projects underway with cities making their first major leap to render themselves more livable and comfortable.

One of the most prominent of these is Saudi Arabia’s NEON, a green city stretching 170 kilometers and 500 meters tall, just 200 meters wide. Transportation along the line is swift and efficient and the city is designed for a 9-million-person capacity. The idea is to make it a comfortable, green space where nature and people can flourish together.

The Telosa project in USA is one designed to be vertical, big enough to house millions of people in the middle of a desert. In India, there is Amaravati with its main spectacle a needle-shaped structure. The majority of the area will be covered in vegetation and water. Mexico also has developed a gorgeous Smart Forest City in Cancun.

His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia made commemorated the momentous project:
“[This is] an event bringing nations from around the world together under one roof, to advance global climate ambitions by inspiring joint activity at the local, regional, and international levels. Our partnership with Egypt reflects a shared belief in the importance of collaborative action to address the environmental and climate challenges facing the region and the world today.”

FUTURE OF CITIES

In 1990, there were only 10 megacities in the world. By 2030, there will be a whopping 43, primarily in Africa and Asia. The UN Department on Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) further detailed this trend:

“Together, India, China, and Nigeria will account for 35 percent of the projected growth of the world’s urban population between 2018 and 2050…It is projected that India will have added 416 million urban dwellers, China 255 million, and Nigeria 189 million.”

Many people see these places as soulless concrete jungles, as many of them started out by cutting out all the pre-existing natural elements when they were constructed. Some may say that there will just continue to be more pollution and an exacerbation of already existing health hazards there.

This, however, does not reflect the current trend that is taking place. All around the world, countries have pledged to play their part in taking care of the environment and reducing emissions. It goes without saying as well that convenient technology will be a godsend for all parties.

In 1990, there were only 10 megacities in the world. By 2030, there will be a whopping 43, primarily in Africa and Asia

DEVELOPMENT FORECASTS UP TO 2030

People are stampeding into the cities. Karen C. Seto et al., in their research, declare that the most pronounced case of this is in Africa, where the rate of urbanization will jump by as much as 590%. The expectation is that the cities will stretch outward without the same rate of crawling and reach three times the total rate of biodiversity hotspots of 2000 in 2030.

This will undoubtedly wreak significant destruction on the animal habitats nearby. Encroachments on land inhabited by animals will also heavily occur in the tropics. Stanford used its AI model recently to predict that global warming will rise another 1.5 degrees Celsius by the mid-2030s.

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON QUALITY OF LIFE

Climate change has been a substantial challenge in recent decades, as many developed countries don’t necessarily consistently hit their goals, and countries that are still developing aren’t expected to enact such measures effectively until they’re significantly industrialized. Climate change will remain a major challenge; however, the Paris Agreement objectives of each country are achievable through the marvels of engineering and new technology.

The level of societal trust has significantly dropped and significant measures will have to be put in place to that end. Additional ones must further be taken to help rebuild social connections as well. On the positive side, technology will significantly boost productivity. Part of that productivity will be the big data analysis tied in with the Internet of Things. It may, in fact, prove so helpful that the issues that necessitated these solutions could be a blessing in disguise.

Real-time data will also make life significantly easier for urban dwellers by modeling future changes in their environment in the form of a digital twin. Urban planners are becoming a more in-demand job and they will be able to use these models to predict where garbage will need to be collected, where energy will be required, where waste will be released, and how to mitigate excessive levels of traffic.

By Sam Little

PHOTO: MAPLE90 / SHUTTERSTOCK; PHOTO: EMIZEN TECH; PHOTO: COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES; PHOTO: GREGOR J / SHUTTERSTOCK; PHOTO: RON PRZYSUCHA / U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE;

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