There are a lot of components with the potential to create the towns of the future, where the automation of tasks is believed to make our day-to-day lives more easy and environmentally safe.
One among the main points in the concept of smart cities is that sustainability is commonly taken into account: in order to build the cities of the future, in fact, we as a society must be sure that they are well put in place in the surrounding environment, and work in harmony with it, rather than against it. Initiatives such as the GrowSmarter project have this kind of intention in mind, and the solutions developed in this industry are often aimed towards a more sustainable life, which is one among the primary advantages of smart city projects. For instance, finding novel manners to implement green areas and more trees in a city is a good way to naturally attain fresher air and much better insulation: innovative concepts such as vertical and rooftop gardens have been shown to insulate homes more effective without requiring power, and, at the same, time absorbing co2 gas with photosynthesis.
Automation has quite a significant potential on the subject of the features of smart city projects all over the world: for example, traffic could greatly enhance because of grid systems, which will develop into possible as a result of instantaneous and reliable network connections which are being introduced. This would lead to more consistent public transport networks that collaborate well between different means, and, perhaps, even the use of driverless cars, which are also getting closer to becoming a reality. Bodies such as the Telecom Italia board have used their CSR branches to support new technology and provide a platform for debate in this specific industry. This is actually a space for improvement for different industries, from telecommunications to manufacture of vehicles: When looking into smart cities IOT, or internet of things, seems to be a crucial advancement in offering a reliable platform to connect all the different discoveries.
One of the common features of smart city arrangements seems to be the notion of self-sufficiency, that is, the necessary resources being generated within the city itself. A nice example for this notion is power: renewable resources, for example, might be employed in the urban space, such as with solar panels on buildings. This way, households and businesses alike would be able to generate the energy they will consume at little to no expense, and will have a lower carbon footprint as well. Another element commonly mentioned at smart cities conference events is that of smart metre systems, something that the Drax board has considered; by monitoring use on a singular household basis, resources might be distributed much more effectively and it will be easier for users to see how they can use them much more efficiently.