The smart cities of tomorrow have to be built by the smart architects of today. These architects face a lot of challenges and have to work across various layers as they have to operate at the intersection of technology, innovation, operations and strategies – no easy task in itself. Everything need to be done just right if you want to build the city of tomorrow. Let us have a look at some of the things that architects need to lay special focus on.

 

Things to Get Right When Building a Smart City

• Focus on Outcomes that Matter – A smart city is about using technology together with various ecosystems to achieve tangible results that bring comfort to human beings. The needs of the city, encompassing efficiency, sustainability, mobility, economics, safety and quality of life need to be focussed on. After all, contrary to popular belief, a smart city is not just about technology –there’s so much more to it.
•  Modernize Digital Infrastructure – A smart city needs to modernize the prevalent digital infrastructure that permits the expansion and integration of the broader ecosystem that it is serving. Issues like security, system processes and technological policies need to be revised and data analytics, machine learning and software engineering need to be optimized to meet the requirements of the smart city.
• Concentrate on ‘City Data’ – Data, as we all know, is the lifeblood of any smart city. Open data, which is readily available with city governed organizations like municipalities is a good source of data, but when it comes to a smart city, the data created and owned by businesses as well as citizens needs to be integrated for better insights and outcomes. The confluence of all this data, which can be called ‘City Data’, is something that smart city architects need to focus on.
• Optimize Connectivity – Smart cities are constantly evolving, and in today’s day and age, smart city architects need to address several issues ranging from equal access to connectivity options to the optimization of confusing technology options like LPWAN and the like. Ultimately, smart
  city architects have to develop innovative strategies that bring together all the connectivity ecosystems, may they be city-owned, service provider-owned or community-owned.
• Build Trust as You Build the Smart City – Any smart city is only as smart as its stakeholders. Smart city architects need to build trust across the entire ecosystem and need to also ensure that the underlying technological infrastructure is secure. Information has to be protected and used only according to its owners wishes. Side by side, policies and legislation also need to be aligned in order to maintain the right balance between privacy, transparency and utility.

In the end, building a smart city is not an easy task and smart city architects need to expand their perspective, learn new roles and work together strategically to build an effective and sustainable smart city.