Smart City projects: Opportunities and Threats

Seminar Report submitted by

Name: KAPIL SJ
Reg. Number: 14ETME005056
Course code: MEC406A
Semester/Batch: 7/2014
Mentor: Dr. T. N. SRIKANTHA DATH

B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering

Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing
Engineering

Ramaiah University of Applied SciencesUniversity House,

Gnanagangothri Campus, New BEL Road,M S R Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, INDIA - 560 054
 Declaration Sheet
Student Name KAPIL SJ
Reg. No 14ETME005056
Programme B. Tech. (Mechanical Engineering) Batch 2014
Course Code MEC406A
Course Title Seminar
Course Date 21st August 2017 to 2nd December 2017

Declaration

The seminar report submitted herewith is a result of my own investigations and that I
have conformed to the guidelines against plagiarism as laid out in the Student
Handbook. All sections of the text and results, which have been obtained from other
sources, are fully referenced. I understand that cheating and plagiarism constitute a
breach of University regulations and will be dealt with accordingly.

Signature of the
Date
student

Name Signature Date

First Examiner
Second Examiner
Mentor Dr. T. N. SRIKANTHA DATH

MEC406A-Seminar 1
 Contents
Declaration Sheet.....................................................................................................................i
LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................v
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................1
 Introduction and scope of work......................................................................................2
 Literature Review............................................................................................................4
2.1 Necessity of Smart city.......................................................................................4

2.1.1 Categorization of cities on the basis of size...................................................4

2.1.3 Categorization of cities on the basis of type..................................................5

3. Details of the Topic..............................................................................................................8

3.1 History........................................................................................................................8

3.2 Implications on (Society, Environment, business, etc)..........................................9

3.3 Facts and Figures..................................................................................................10

Threats to Smart Cities...............................................................................................12

3.4 Data Analysis............................................................................................................13

4. Challenges and Opportunities...........................................................................................15

Challenges..................................................................................................................16

Opportunities.............................................................................................................16

Remarks......................................................................................................................16

5. Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Work...................................................................17

REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................19

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 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Megacities by population.......................................................................................5
Table 2: Categorization of Cities...........................................................................................6
Table 3: Comparison between Singapore and Bangalore..................................................10
Table 5: Challenges and Opportunities of Smart Cities......................................................16

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Masdar City, UAE...................................................................................................6
Figure 2: The most densely populated city Tokyo history with 1, 36, and 17,445 people...8
Figure 3: Smart city Tokyo....................................................................................................9
Figure 4: Singapore in 1960s and 2010..............................................................................11
Figure 5: Conceptual Diagram of Smart City......................................................................15

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 ABSTRACT

Smart city is a new concept in the development of new and old existing cities the
Government of India has come up with to address the issue of growing youth population
in the cities who are looking for jobs in the top 10 cities of India. With 70% of the Indians
being expected to reside in the urban areas by 2030 with a demand for land spaces
increasing, the concept is aimed at reducing the population pressure on the major cities.
The main motivation behind the selection of the topic is to understand the dynamics in
which the smart cities are formed, the look-out approach for innovative solutions to
improve urban life.

The report extracts are referred from research papers describing the transformation of
old cities into smart cities, development of new smart cities and the hurdles faced by
cities to become smart cities. The opportunities and threats of Smart City projects have
been studied vividly. The examples were presented to know well-managed old cities like
Mysore and new cities like Singapore. The opportunities of Smart Cities have been
explored while taking into consideration and also threats incurred in technology poses
for the smooth functioning of the cities has been studied.

The concept of smart cities is a new name given to a world-class modern infrastructure
which has been implemented by developed nations to make city with maximum
facilities. The Comparison for developed and developing smart city is done and
suggestions for new cities are discussed.

Keywords:
Smart City, Urban planning, Masdar, Smart planet, Smart America

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 1. Introduction and scope of work

1.1 Introduction to smart city

Urban infrastructure plays a very important role in the development of any developing or
a developed economy. But since ages, the infrastructure is becoming obsolete to manage
huge population influx. Mismanagement and poor planning is accounted for the
disturbance in the urban areas across the globe. This gave rise to the concept of Smart
Cities.

Smart City is a novel concept of developing new and old cities with all the basic
amenities. Smart City concept is adopted by traditional old cities to make them more
hospitable and environmental friendly in nature.

Information Technology industry as a whole has reached a certain level of maturity in

terms of reliability and security. To build good cities which can be managed in an efficient
way, the IT sector can play an important role. With the application of technologies like
Artificial Neural Network, Internet of Things, etc. smart cities are moving towards
sustainable development which benefits everyone in the ecosystem starting from
citizens, to businesses to the government and the environment. (Kristian Hoelscher
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), 2016).

Like any other developing nation, India is also witnessing a mass urban migration. With
limited opportunities in many state capitals across the country, the migration is
concentrated to few metro cities in India. Initially these cities were planned for a
population of mere 10 lakh, currently is a home to over half a crore people. With 60% of
the country’s population below 35, this migration is not expected to reverse or stop.
Sensing the threat, the Government of India has come up with the idea of 100 Smart
Cities in with by committing an Rs.1, 89,155 crore.

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 This scope of this work is to identify the aspects considered by some of the cities for
getting converted into smart cities. Further the challenges and opportunities in
converting any city into a smart city is analysed. Finally, the path to be taken for
converting into smart city are listed out.

1.2 Interesting facts

While the Government of India has sanctioned funds for building new smart cities and
converting old cities into smart cities, the general population has expressed their
reservations of converting old cities to smart cities. Interestingly, Dubai has been able to
do this in record time. The redundant infrastructure of Dubai in 2013 was sensed by the
monarch of the state and initiated a complete transformation of the city into a smart city
to provide state-of-the-art facilities to the residents of the city. Within record time of 3
years, Dubai transformed into a smart city and currently ranks among the best cities for
infrastructure and overall development of the city. Dubai seems to have been inspired by
the thinking of the visionary Venezuelan leader (Sow the Oil), and thereby investing a
portion of their oil revenue (which amounts to $2.6 Billion) for the betterment of its
urban infrastructure.

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 2. Literature Review
The scope of the literature review is to understand the necessity of Smart cities across
the globe and specifically in India. To understand the need of smart cities, the
categorization of the cities on the basis of the size and type has been discussed vividly in
the literature review, while discussing about the prosperous old and new well managed
cities to arrive at a basis for the opportunities and threats smart cities pose as a concept.

2.1 Necessity of Smart city

More than 50% of the world for the first time in mankind history living in urban areas. In
2008, 3.42 Billion people are living in urban areas with 74% in developed nations and
44% in developing nations; the pressure on the existing cities due to poor management
of resources is increasing dramatically. About 24-30 people per day are migrating
towards major cities from rural areas for fulfilling their basic and luxurious needs for
better livelihood and lifestyles. This brings in the necessity for smart cities across the
globe which is well planned infrastructural and driven well using technology.

2.1.1 Categorization of cities on the basis of size

The smart cities can be categorised as Small, Medium and Big or Mega depending on the
number of people residing in that.

Small Size cities are those cities with a population of less than half a million people but
play an important role in the economic growth of the region. The best example for these
kinds of cities is Surat in Gujarat or Thane in Maharashtra.

Medium Size cities are those cities with a population ranging between 1-5 million
people, which are generally state headquarters, playing an important role politically and
economically for the state or the federal unit into consideration. The best example for
these kinds of cities is Ahmadabad in Gujarat or Guwahati in Assam.

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 Big or Mega cities are those cities which are the major contributors to the country’s GDP
and a more to approximately 10 million people and many more regions are expected to
fall in addition to the city due to its increasing growth. In India, cities like Bangalore and
Mumbai fall into this category.

2.1.2 Densest Megacities with population per square mile

Some of the cities which have the densest population, which have been identified by
their respective government in their countries for transforming them into smart cities
are given in table 1 below

Table 1: Megacities by population

S.No City People per square mile

1 Dhaka, Bangladesh 115200
2 Mumbai, India 82000
3 Karachi, Pakistan 67300
4 Manila, Philippines 38300
5 Lagos, Nigeria 34500
6 Kolkata, India 31500
7 Delhi, India 30400
8 Seoul, South Korea 27400
9 Mexico City, Mexico 25400
10 Tehran, Iran 25400

2.1.3 Categorization of cities on the basis of type

While most cities developed across the world till the start of the 21 st Century was
because of two reasons namely: Either the city is the capital of the country or the state
or the city was planned to house a set population. But many cities couldn’t keep the
goals on which the city was formed. This category discusses about the various types of
cities across the globe. Table 2 discusses of the city, types of cities and the salient
features of the five different types of cities.
Table 2: Categorization of Cities

City Type of cities Remarks

Bangalore Growing disorganised Unplanned and handling
enormous growth

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 Hong Kong Growing regulated On time regulations for
Detroit, USA Existing shrinking People are not wishing to
leave due to few reasons.

Dubai, UAE Newly designed Well planned

Toronto, Canada Existing stable Efficiently maintained

2.2 Description on old and new cities.

Example of an old prosperous city: Mysore, the erstwhile capital of the princely and
Indian state of the same name is one of the best examples of a good city which had
served with the best amenities from the globe. One of the best administered princely
states across the world in the British Empire provided basic amenities like lighting,
road infrastructure and housing to the general public with the best quality. A prime
example that smart cities need not necessary be driven by technology, rather can be
driven by good public infrastructure management.

Figure 1: Masdar City, UAE

Futuristic smart city: Masdar city is expected to be the world’s first zero carbon smart
city developed close to the capital city of Abu-Dhabi by Mubadala Development
Company in 2006 at an approximate budget of $22 Billion. The figure 2 is an artistic
impression of the Masdar City which is expected to be functional by 2020. Masdar city
would run on electric vehicles, with a renewable energy hub located in the centre of the

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city (refer figure 2) so that electricity supply across the city would be completely on the
standards of the future pollution-free city norms. The water supply to the city is sourced
from Abu-Dhabi; later on the water is recycled to be used for cooling and watering
purposes. With an upcoming economic zone close to the city supported by technical
institutions within the city, Masdar is setting an example to other upcoming smart cities
across the globe.

3. Details of the Topic

3.1 History
IBM begins to work in smarter cities – Smarter Planet Initiative. After shredding its
sprawling and later ailing hardware business, IBM is one of the best examples of

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technology companies to reinvent themselves to sustain in the 21 st Century. Their
attitude towards growth rather than complacency is what makes their efforts significant
in their Smarter Planet initiative, which is currently working with other nations to
develop efficient smart cities.

Developed nations investment in smart cities like South Korea, UAE and China are due to
their ever-rising concern over population and pollution in the current megacities. These
cities are hope to revive the situation by investments in developing new cities and
upgrading the older cities. While India has recently embarked on this journey, other
nations are already doing this since years.

Figure 2: The most densely populated city Tokyo history with 1, 36, and 17,445 people

Tokyo, the Capital of Japan in the late 1970s became the world’s largest city by
population and size. But the condition and standards of living of the city wasn’t good.
Figure 3 describes the best image of Tokyo, the missing skyscrapers and the mismanaged
housing and road infrastructure depicts the unorganized state of the capital of Japan.

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Figure 3: Smart city Tokyo

With the aim to sustain the city’s economic importance and reduce pressure on the
existing resources, the Government of Japan came up with the idea of transforming the
city into a smart city, which later went on to become the Asia’s first city to achieve the
smart city tag. Figure 3 shows the dramatic change in urban infrastructure of the city
from late 1970s into the 21st Century.

3.2 Implications on (Society, Environment, business, etc)

The positive implications of implementing the smart city concept are many. Some of
them are given below under separate headings.

3.2.1 Implications on society

o Reducing solid waste generation and improving waste management
o Improving water efficiency and recycling
o Reduction of emissions of traditional air pollutants and greenhouse gases
o Increased provision of parks and open spaces
o Reduced consumption of fossil fuels and increased use of renewable energy
o Educated people of protecting environment

3.2.2 Implications on Environment

The ideals of the cleaner, greener, and safer environment. With the smart city, the
quality of life enhances with a low ecological footprint. To achieve a good clean, green
and safe environment in a city, the smart city will deal with the concepts of water
features and waterways, including lakes, ponds, wetlands, and rivers. Besides these

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concepts, the smart environment entered trashes and land filled areas. Nowadays, the
cities municipalities have been using Technology to recycle and to get benefits, the
environment protection has played as a key role in field that made people used
technology to treated environmental problems. The problems can be reduced in the
cities when several things should be considering in the master plan of cities.

3.2.3 Implications on Business

o Ease of doing business would increase as basic resources would be available in an
organized manner
o Due to attractive features of the smart city, the pool of candidates for a job would
increase substantially, thereby helping in getting good talent for the business

3.3 Facts and Figures

To understand the actual basis of smart cities, it is very vital to understand the
differences between a sprawling unorganized technological hub like Bangalore and a
smart city like Singapore which is currently the leading economic hub in South East Asia.
Table 3 discusses the differences between two cities on the basis of parameters like area,
population, vehicular density, etc.

Table 3: Comparison between Singapore and Bangalore

Particulars Singapore Bangalore

Formed 1965 1537

Area 719km2 709km2

Population 5607300 8443675
GDP /CAPITA $55,252 $5,051
Tourists 15 million 25 million
Vehicles 9,56,430 70,28,000
Computer and Internet 86% 66%
Usage
Road 3356km 1940km

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 Figure 4: Singapore in 1960s and 2010

Table 3 discusses about the differences between the Singapore and Bangalore. But
before the discussion builds on the differences between the two growing cities, the
transformation of Singapore in 50 years is tremendous. Figure 4 is a pictorial
representation of two different phases of the city over the years of transformation. An
island nation in the backwards of Malaysia has grown out to become one of the major
economic hubs and known for its clean environment and smart city management has
become an inspiration for many other traditional cities to transform as smart cities.

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Bangalore was founded 500 years back, was a sleepy state capital of Karnataka, became
a booming IT hub thanks to the favorable climatic conditions for Computer systems. With
many areas like Basavangudi, Jayanagar, Yelahanka, etc. best examples of planned
infrastructure in the city, overcrowding wasn’t handled properly by the municipal
corporation. Unplanned addition of new areas into the city made waste management,
road infrastructure, availability of water very difficult for the municipal corporation,
thereby falling short on criteria to even provide basic amenities to the general
population. While discussing about Singapore, strict regulations were implemented since
the initial days of the formation of the new city-nation, which made it simpler for the
local government to implement new-age technologies to make Singapore a smart city.

Threats to Smart Cities

The major threat faced by smart cities is its complete reliance on technology. While
technology has proved its worth in making life simpler, it has opened doors for hackers to
make their way into these set networks for their personal gains. This is generally due to
use of cheap technological malware-prone devices used to control the systems. The case
study on Energy Management Systems which is used to improve the city's energy
efficiency as well as reduce CO2 emissions, employed in Yokohama, Japan is the best
example. Smart meters are also in use, but these readings can be decoded with a cheap
USB kit, fake signals can be sent, power can be throttled and if tapped into, attackers
could also potentially record when and where power is being used -- which can tell them
whether anyone is physically in a property.

Smart transport and traffic management solutions are also at risk. In Japan, Softbank has
created a smart parking project which allows drivers to monitor available spots and book
parking spaces, and while lucrative for city planners, the researchers note that such
systems, reliant on connected Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) sensors and a low-power wide
area network (LPWAN), may be abused by cybercriminals.

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3.4 Data Analysis
For the purpose of analysis, the following top smart cities have been identified for study
to highlight the action taken by them in overcoming problems during implementation
o Vienna: - Successful transformation to become one of the greenest cities in the
world, uses recycled fuel like biomass is employed to heat the public buildings
o Seattle: - Green technology implementation was a major issue in the city,
thereby they encouraged the citizens to go green by giving tax rebates to
citizens who adopt new technology to make the city smarter
o Stockholm: - One of the world’s first cities to implement 4G network, used this
as an potential to develop the city’s infrastructure through internet
connectivity by encouraging tech companies to become a part of their Kista
Science City
o London: - With the imposition of congestion charges and implementation of
technologies to encourage public transport like underground Wi-Fi, smart car
parking system, etc. this city came over their problems and currently is solving
the issues in the healthcare sector
o Rio de Janeiro: - Riding on the infrastructure built for the Olympics 2016, it
became one of the few cities to benefit from the large infrastructure built
during the Olympics as it signed a deal with IBM to convert the city into a smart
city successfully
o Hong Kong: - Capitalizing on the high smartphone penetration across the
globe, it completely transformed the city with contactless payments across all
kiosks in the city be it the milk booth or the transportation system, thereby
moving a step forward in their Digital 21 Strategy

Six major cities have undergone a transformation from traditional poor infrastructure
city into a smart city. On the basis of the transformation, factors which impact the
implementation of new concepts in old cities have been listed
o Organising the disorganised sectors in all the levels of management of the city
structure. Singapore is one of the best examples for this kind of a transformation.
The Benevolent leader Lee Kuan Yew transformed the entire organizational
structure into a centralized format which enabled the micro-management of
resources in the city easier and implementation of new concepts quicker.

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 o Public and private partnership projects. Vienna, a beautiful city capital of Austria is
generally experiences severe cold temperature all-round the year. By inviting
Public Private Partnership into renewable energy systems, the most of the heating
systems of major public and private buildings in Vienna are run using biomass.
o Reduction of private automobiles and using public vehicles, metros etc. which
enables last mile connectivity. London gave in lucrative options like internet
connectivity and smart parking systems to users of the Tube and the Bus facility
and imposed congestion charges on private automobile users to address this issue
successfully.
o Organised collection of taxes and fines. Seattle did this in an amazing way by
giving tax benefits to people who contribute to the betterment of the city while
imposed fines on regular offenders. This got the system channelized to only one
type of tax collection system.

4. Challenges and Opportunities

Like any other concept or technology, Smart cities also has its own share of challenges it
poses while creates numerous opportunities for all people in the ecosystem. While it is
said that if challenges are addressed effectively, they can become opportunities for the
betterment of human mankind. Some of the listed challenges faced by the Smart Cities
concept is

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 - Housing and infrastructure: - Encouraging people to construct homes in an
organized manner where supply of amenities becomes easier while top builders
are attracted by the economic development of the city.
- Water, waste and sewage management: - One of the most critical aspects of the
growth and sustainability of the system, a guideline must be created in order to
address this issue.
- Pollution: - Norms have to be set for pollution in and around the city to curb
situation like Delhi is facing today
- Transportation: - Development of Bus Rapid Transport System, Special Purpose
Vehicle, Metro, etc. before the citizens develop the habit of using private
transport
- Emergency services: - Green corridor availability for emergency services at the
right time within accessible range
- Power supply: - Development of renewable power for the city which can be used
to reduce the dependencies on non-renewable power

Figure 5: Conceptual Diagram of Smart City

The challenges discussed above are listed in a tabulated form which looks out for
opportunities which can or rather are created because of these challenges. Table 5
describes the opportunities derived from the challenges and supporting remarks for the
same.

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Table 4: Challenges and Opportunities of Smart Cities

Challenges Opportunities Remarks

Housing and Job opportunities As the sector has high

Infrastructure capability of providing jobs

Waste management Recycling Landfills are reduced

Water and sewage New regulations to manage Insufficient water is the

management drinking water problem in most cities.

Pollution (industries, Setting up Industries faraway Harmful gases should be

automobiles) from residential places treated (filtered) before
Automobiles and transport leaving atmosphere.
electrification

Transportation Special Purpose Vehicle, Metro Last mile connectivity is the

basic necessary.

Emergency services Fire and ambulance Reach the needy within

minimum duration.

Energy Quality power Electricity is major

No-power-cut contributor for
development

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 5. Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Work

During the study of Smart City Projects, its opportunities and threats through various
research papers, journals and books, following conclusions were drawn on why smart
cities are very important machine for the growth of an economy, be it developing or
developed economy.
 It would be easy for the mass migrating population to look for better
opportunities and consider the fact of better standards of living at lower costs
as many cities are offering the same lucrative jobs
 The brand image of the city and the country as a whole increases which
encourages businesses to invest in the country, which adds to the revenues of
the Government
 It can be a source of attraction for tourists from all over the world, thereby
government can generate more jobs from this sector. Singapore is the best
example for a tourist city attraction spot

5.1 Suggestions and Future work

The smart cities are going to be big economic driver in the coming years with a potential
of $ 1.5 trillion business. This makes Smart City as a concept very lucrative to many
developing nations like India (Gandhinagar) and China (Dongtan) to invest in these kinds
of cities.

Encouragement from the government has to be channelized in the right manner. This can
be done easily by motivating people to come up with ideas which can solve the issues
faced by traditional cities and upcoming smart cities. Bengaluru, once the garden city of
India has moved on to become the garbage city of India, due to sheer negligence of the
administration and the general public.

While the listed problems are faced by the IT Hub, proper implementation of principles
of Smart City can get Bangalore its lost glory and make it a more hospitable place to live.
This also applies to Metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai, which are facing a similar

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situation like Bangalore. If proper planning is conducted, the upcoming capital of Andhra
Pradesh can be a role model for all smart city projects in India.

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 REFERENCES

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social and community dynamics: A survey. ACM Comput. Surv. 46, 2, Article 17
(November 2013), 34 pages. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2543581.2543584

2. Donald Bell, 2016, ice.org.uk, “Smart Cities: Challenges, Opportunities, and

success, Glasgow” Accessed on 28th November 2017
https://www.ice.org.uk/eventarchive/smart-cities-challenges-opportunities-and-
success#over

3. Hannah Merry, “Population increase and the smart city” Accessed on 26th
November 2017https://www.ibm.com/blogs/internet-of-things/increased-
population-smart-city/

4. Jeffrey M. Sellers, Daniel Kübler, Melanie Walter-Rogg, and R. Alan Walks (Eds.).
(2013). The Political Ecology of the Metropolis: Metropolitan Sources of Electoral
Behaviour in Eleven Countries. New York

5. Mark Vallianatos, 2015,Boom California, “Uncovering the Early History of “Big

Data” and the “Smart City” in Los Angeles” Accessed on 28th October 2017
https://boomcalifornia.com/2015/06/16/uncovering-the-early-history-of-big-
data-and-the-smart-city-in-la/

6. Mirabella, N., Castellani, V., Sala, S. 2014 Current options for the valorization of
manufacturing waste: a review. Journal of Cleaner Production.

7. SmMiimu Airaksinen, Matti Kokkala , march (2015)art City Research Highlights

.VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

8. Urban-hub.com, “Rising above the challenges of population density” Accessed on

26th November 2017 http://www.urban-hub.com/cities/rising-above-the-
challenges-of-population-density/

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