There are a lot of factors with the potential to build up the cities of the future, where the automation of tasks is believed to make our daily lives more easy and environmentally safe.
One of the typical features of smart city arrangements seems to be the idea of self-sufficiency, that is, the appropriate resources being generated within the city itself. A nice example for this concept is power: renewable resources, for example, could be put in place in the urban space, such as with solar panels on buildings. This way, households and firms alike would be able to generate the energy they will consume at little to no expense, and will have a lower carbon footprint as well. Another characteristic often mentioned at smart cities conference events is that of smart meter systems, something that the Drax board has considered; by monitoring use on a singular household basis, resources can be distributed much more effectively and it will be easier for users to see how they can make use of them more efficiently.
One of the primary points in the concept of smart cities is that sustainability is frequently taken into account: in order to build the cities of the future, in fact, we as a society must make certain that they are well employed in the surrounding environment, and work in harmony with it, rather than against it. Projects like the GrowSmarter project have this sort of goal in mind, and the solutions established in this field are frequently aimed towards a more sustainable life, which is one among the main advantages of smart city projects. For instance, finding novel manners to implement green spaces and more trees in a city is a good way to naturally attain cleaner air and far better insulation: innovative concepts such as rooftop and vertical gardens have been shown to insulate homes better without requiring power, and, at the same, time absorbing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.
Automation of tasks has quite a big capacity when it comes to the features of smart city projects all over the world: for example, traffic could greatly enhance as a result of grid systems, which will become possible thanks to reliable and instantaneous network connections which are being introduced. This would lead to more consistent public transport networks that collaborate well between various means, and, possibly, even the use of driverless cars, which are also getting closer to becoming a reality. Bodies such as the Telecom Italia board have used their corporate social responsibility branches to support new technology and provide a platform for debate in this particular sector. This is definitely a space for innovation for several sectors, from manufacture of vehicles to telecommunications: When looking into smart cities IOT, or internet of things, seems to be a key development in providing a reliable platform to connect all the various discoveries.