Topic: smart-city

When talking about smart cities, the African continent is often neglected. But there are many important developments there that can inspire future cities on other continents. For example, Dubai-based architecture firm Urb has unveiled a new design for a smart, self-sufficing city in South Africa called The Parks.

When you are using Hamburg’s public transport system, the symbol of a red power plug appears everywhere. This is the symbol of the city’s HVV Switch platform, a bundle of mobility services. It indicates multimodal mobility, meaning that you can switch to another mode of public or shared transport at that station. Read here why this makes Hamburg a city with truly smart mobility.

Heat everywhere, especially the cities are effected very hard, this phenomenon has a name called: "Urban Heat Island effect". We talk about the definition, impact, examples for Urban Heat Island effects and show some solutions how cites can manage this uncomfortable effect. The current climate crisis is having a drastic effect on the planet. While it’s easy to place the blame on rapid deforestation and unsustainable industry, one of the largest contributors to the current climate change phenomenon is much closer to home: our cities. 

The Swedish software company ProptechOS recently published a smart city index that not only looks at how smart a city already is, but also at how well cities are equipped for a smart future. The index shows that in Europe, London and Paris are leading the way. It also looks at cities and their preparedness to become smarter in the US. Read more about the results of the index here.

Ever since the idea of a smart city was first introduced, Internet of Things technology has been a key pillar of smart city development. As technology advances and more countries embrace next-generation connectivity, IoT technology will continue to grow and have a bigger effect on the way we live.  In this article, we explore IOT and its importance for the development of smart cities.

According to numbers from the Improving Internet of Things (IoT) Security with Software-Defined Network (SDN) study, there will be more than 75.44 billion connected IoT devices by 2025. With a forecast of over 7.33 billion mobile users by 2023 and more than 1,105 million connected wearable devices users by 2022, the Internet of Things is expected to grow into one of the smartest collective and collaborative systems in history.

March 22 marks the annual World Water Day, a United Nations observance day highlighting the importance of fresh water. It is designed to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. What does that mean for cities? And how can we establish a smart water management system?  

When used correctly, disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence can improve our urban landscape for the better. Drawing from huge resource pools and using a combination of modern machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and more, artificial intelligence can be leveraged to drive efficiency and improve the quality of life for the smart cities of the smart cities tomorrow.

The impacts of climate change have already begun to cause damage to our planet. The Earth’s landscape has drastically transformed over the last century, and the natural world is under threat from rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and rapid urbanization. Our cities are growing, and their populations are swelling along with them. What are the implications for water supply in cities? How can we protect our drinking water? Find out more in this article.

As early as in the 19^th century, people recognized that the air quality in rural areas was much better than in urban areas. Nowadays, cities worldwide cope with challenges such as air pollution, extreme air temperatures, and heavy precipitation. In the future, these problems will occur more often due to climate change. This trend will result in an unknown amount of economic damage and endanger the life and health of the cities’ populations.

For the third time, the QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge of QBE North America collaborates with the non-profit organization Leading Cities. Start-ups have the opportunity to apply for the accelerator program. Since the smart city startup accelerator program launch, more than 1,500 smart city solutions from over 50 countries have been evaluated.

Semi-finalists of the QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge take part in the eight-week virtual accelerator program. For the finalists, the program culminates in a virtual boot camp and a pitch day. The winner will receive USD 100,000 and a pilot project in a city. The start-ups that rank second and third will receive $ 25,000 and additional resources and access to valuable connections to help scale their initiatives. The application deadline is April 30, 2021.