Envisioning Smart Cities that Deliver Societal Benefits
Pramod P. KhargonekarUniversity of California, Irvine
Smart Cities for a Sustainable GlobalizationNational Academy of Engineering Symposium at Illinois Tech April 24, 2019
Past
19111881 1930’s
1953 1990
US Manufacturing – Large Growth in Output but at Much Lower Epmployment
Automation + Globalization
“The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information.”
Tim Berners-Lee
Source: http://nymag.com
/intelligencer/2018/04/an-apology-for-the-internet-from-the-
people-who-built-it.htm
l
Technological Innovations have (Unintended) Consequences
Future
Source: OEC
D
Global economy will double in the next 20 years
A Rapidly Urbanizing World
Source: European Environment Agency, UN
Cities will be Major Contributors to Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions
Source: Floater, Rode et al. 2014 Cities and the New Climate Economy: the transformative role of global urban growth.
Smart Cities
Source: OEC
D, The M
etropolitan Century, 2015
Smart-X and Key Enabling Technologies
SensorsCommunications
Internet-of-thingsData analytics
Machine learning and AIDistributed control
AutomationCybersecurity
Cloud Computing
X
X in Smart Cities
X = Mobility
X = Energy
X = Connectivity
X = Lighting
X = Waste
X = Water
X = Emergency response
X = Government services
Cities are Complex Systems
“In the last fifty years our view of cities has beenturned on its head. In the mid 20th century, thepredominant analogy was that a city was like amachine, controlled from the top down andfunctioning in straightforward, ordered terms. Todaywe consider that cities are more like organisms.”
M. Batty, The Age of the Smart City, 2017
How can we ensure that smart cities technologies will produce important societal benefits and
minimize negative outcomes?
Smart Cities and Social Responsibility
Major Challenges in Achieving Smart City Benefits
Data ownership
Privacy
(Cyber-)Security
Governance
Trust
Equity, fairness, bias
Funding, financing, business models, …
Socially Responsible Automation Framework
Source: Sampath and Khargonekar, NAE Bridge, Winter 2019
Source: Baum-Snow and Pavan, Inequality and City Size The Review of Economics and Statistics, December 2013
Growing Inequality is Exacerbated in Cities
Smart Cities for Inclusive Economic Growth
“We must learn collectively from a decade of experimentation in smart cities across the globe. It is time to take stock of what has worked, what has not worked, and what can be improved to leverage digital innovation for more inclusive and sustainable outcomes.”
Angel Gurria, Secretary General, OECD, December 2018
Source: OECD
Smart Cities should Focus on People and Networks
Highly dynamic interacting networks
Multiple time scales
Spatially distributed
Globally connected
Complex systems
Sustained Meaningful Partnerships Needed
Source: van Waart et al, A Participatory Approach for Envisioning a Smart City, 2015
“What is needed is a systematic change in the relationship between governments, citizens, and other stakeholders as well as a shared vision between these stakeholders on the future smart city.”