Asia will be smart city leader of the future

Yes, Asia, not USA. That is the conclusion of a white paper called “Evolution of Smart Cities and Connected Communities.” Asia, has more government support for smart city initiatives, their cities are more tech-ready, and most of all, Asia needs smart cities more than anywhere else because of its growing urban populations.

The study was conducted by Government Technology and co-sponsored by the Consumer Technology Association and the United Parcel Service (UPS).

Of course, smart cities are emerging all over the world, as by 2050, 70 percent of the world population will live in cities. Smart technology is not just something we want, it is something we need. We need it all over the world but in Asia we need it even more. That is why Asian government investments in smart city technology push Asia in the leadership position, the white paper says.

Citing a BMI Research report from 2016, the report noted urbanization in China and India rose to 65 percent and 37 percent respectively last year, up from 56 percent and 33 percent respectively in 2015. Singapore, meanwhile, aims to be the world’s first smart nation — leveraging one of the world’s highest mobile and broadband penetration rates.

3 Comments

Egbert van Keulen on May 1st 2017 - 09:07

Hi Herman,
Thank you for your comment. Could it also be that European cities are facing even more barriers for smart city initiatives due to the legacy of old infrastructure in combination with less space for new projects?
And thank you for the link. I will have a look at it.
Egbert

Herman van den Bosch on April 28th 2017 - 20:01

A possibly relevant complementary source with respect to smart ciii development in Asia https://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/asias-smart-cities-future-trends-and-best-practices-128367428?nopaging=1

Herman van den Bosch on April 28th 2017 - 18:38

Hi Egbert. Just a few additional remarks. The importance of being smart in Asian cities is certainly related with the big difference between Asian and American cities. For instance, the number of inhabitants per square mile is much larger. Already now the traffic congestion is a hazard, in spite of the much lower number of cars per 100 habitants. Urbanisation is one of the policy headlines, especially in Chinese cities, which means more active policy engagement and more powerful implementation for instancy the creation of new underground trains. I feel that European cities are somewhere between American and Asian cities. However, the need for smart solutions in European cities is enforced by their orientation at the historic town centers, which is causing extremely much radial movement of people.

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AMS Institute, Re-inventing the city (urban innovation) at AMS Institute, posted Apr 16th

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Herman van den Bosch, professor in management development , posted Apr 14th

A previous post made it clear that a 15-minute city ideally consists of a 5-minute walking zone, a 15-minute walking zone, also a 5-minute cycling zone and a the 15-minute cycling zone. These three types of neighbourhoods and districts should be developed in conjunction, with employment accessibility also playing an important role.

In the plans for 15-minute cities in many places around the world, these types of zones intertwine, and often it is not even clear which type of zone is meant. In Paris too, I miss clear choices in this regard.

The city of Melbourne aims to give a local lifestyle a dominant place among all residents. Therefore, everyone should live within at most 10 minutes' walking distance to and from all daily amenities. For this reason, it is referred to as a 20-minute city, whereas in most examples of a 15-minute city, such as Paris, it is only about the round trip. The policy in Melbourne has received strong support from the health sector, which highlights the negative effects of traffic and air pollution.

In Vancouver, there is talk of a 5-minute city. The idea is for neighbourhoods to become more distinct parts of the city. Each neighbourhood should have several locally owned shops as well as public facilities such as parks, schools, community centres, childcare and libraries. High on the agenda is the push for greater diversity of residents and housing types. Especially in inner-city neighbourhoods, this is accompanied by high densities and high-rise buildings. Confronting this idea with reality yields a pattern of about 120 such geographical units (see map above).

Many other cities picked up the idea of the 15-minute city. Among them: Barcelona, London, Milan, Ottawa, Detroit and Portland. The organisation of world cities C40 (now consisting of 96 cities) elevated the idea to the main policy goal in the post-Covid period.

All these cities advocate a reversal of mainstream urbanisation policies. In recent decades, many billions have been invested in building roads with the aim of improving accessibility. This means increasing the distance you can travel in a given time. As a result, facilities were scaled up and concentrated in increasingly distant places. This in turn led to increased congestion that negated improvements in accessibility. The response was further expansion of the road network. This phenomenon is known as the 'mobility trap' or the Marchetti constant.

Instead of increasing accessibility, the 15-minute city aims to expand the number of urban functions you can access within a certain amount of time. This includes employment opportunities. The possibility of working from home has reduced the relevance of the distance between home and workplace. In contrast, the importance of a pleasant living environment has increased. A modified version of the 15-minute city, the 'walkable city' then throws high hopes. That, among other things, is the subject of my next post.