Cities of the Future

In Rio de Janeiro IBM has set up a central data center to monitor everything from weather to traffic patterns in a program called Smarter Cities.  This allows for precision control of things like traffic light timing and the power grid, making cities more efficient.  As the population of the world increases, it will become more and more important to make cities as energy efficient as possible.  It is a very difficult job to manage the infrastructure of a large city.  Many cities have go infrastructure control in individual departments, but no city has the same level of integration as in Rio de Janeiro.  This system brings the data streams of 30 different agencies together in one location, allowing more informed decisions to be made about the city.  For example, if the traffic is especially bad in rush hour, the city may want to increase the traffic flow through an area.  This integration will allow cities to be more efficient and easier to manage.  Providing this level of integration is expected to be a large source of revenue for IBM in the future.  If the experiment in Rio de Janeiro works out, IBM to do the same in other cities.  By 2050 75% of the population of the world is expected to be living in cities.  Such megacities will need good infrastructure and integration between departments to run the city intelligently.  If IBM can make Rio de Jeneiro into a “smart city,” they will have a large demand from other cities for similar service.  However, in Rio de Janeiro, challenges remain.  The city consists of sprawling growth that was often poorly planned.  Many of the people live in crime-ridden slums, called favelas.  The crumbling infrastructure is a challenge for IBM.  If the company can create a “smart city” out of Rio de Jeneiro, it can do the same anywhere.

Read more at the New York Times website.
Picture from here.