What is a Smart City?
A smart city is the intersection of large urban environments and human-centric technology. A smart city implements user-focused and data-driven concepts to improve the systems that we interact with every day. These systems can either be large scale or individualized, but no matter what, they are making daily life more efficient.
This kind of forward-thinking urban environment takes existing physical, technological, and political entities and finds new ways to optimize their uses. Creating an Internet of Things to do so is the first step in establishing a smart city. An Internet of Things finds data in the way the environment exists to find trends that inform design decisions.
The concept of a smart city will always be evolving as more technology gets implemented and becomes commonplace. However, this definition encompasses the progressive mindset in what it means to create/design smart city systems.
What are Smart Buildings and Infrastructure?
When talking about Smart Buildings and Infrastructure, it generally refers to structures that use a data (collected through different types of sensors) to create a feedback loop to improve its functionality. These exist for automating systems that are imperative to running a building, such as heating, lighting, traffic, security, and more. Through utilizing sensors, all these processes are done more efficiently and without human error.
By using an Internet of Things to collect data on foot traffic, these buildings can also communicate with other systems to predict patterns. This can help anything from informing traffic systems like crosswalks around the infrastructure to helping businesses headquarters get data on workflow. Sensors on Buildings can also detect areas that need maintenance, providing safety assurance if it recognizes any potential hazards.
The biggest use for smart buildings and infrastructure right now is to reduce our climate impact. The green-centric focus of a lot of smart building systems is very important since it is estimated that cities account for over 70% of our carbon emissions globally (via WorldBank). The way that sensors on buildings are used to lower our carbon footprint is by regulating the energy that is used to only what is absolutely necessary. This involves systems detecting where excess or unused energy is being directed and controlling it’s overall output. Other systems include renewable water systems, geothermal heating, solar power generation, and air filtration. This is also a great way to reduce the cost of building operation for businesses and cities.
There is a ranking system for how environmentally friendly buildings are, know as the LEED (Leadership in Environmental Design) certification. This is a green rating system for buildings, widely recognized as a symbol of sustainability achievement (via USGBC). This is important when identifying the success of a green building’s systems, and achieving the highest rank of LEED Platinum is a big accomplishment. Creating a building that reaches this level requires a lot of smart building elements coming together to create a carbon-neutral output. Most smart buildings around the world have environmental impact at the root of their purpose, and the source of their sustainability,
Smart Buildings and Infrastructure Projects
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Vancouver Convention Centre West – Vancouver, Canada
Summary: A decades-long project on the harbor of Vancouver, the Vancouver Convention Centre West was aimed to incorporate the urban environment with the sprawling natural ecosystem around it. It was also the focal point for 2010 Olympic games, as its creation increased the city’s convention capacity threefold. This gigantic development encompasses approximately 14 acres on land and 8 acres over water, with 1 million square feet of convention space, 90,000 square feet of retail space, 450 parking stalls, and 400,000 square feet of walkways, bikeways, public open space, and plazas (via Architizer). Despite its massive footprint, it was the world’s first LEED Platinum convention center.
Objective & Systems: The objective of this building is to create natural environments in the urban space, and then use those natural systems to help run the building. The self-sustaining nature of the building starts with its ‘living roof’ that is over 6 acres in size. There are no public human access points to the roof and it is home to hundreds of thousands of indigenous plants plus several bee colonies. These colonies provide honey for the restaurants below, and the plants are sustained due to the natural drainage system that was built into the architecture. This theme is continued under water, where a ‘marine habitat skirt’ sits for marine life to attach. There is a complete ecosystem of species of fish and other animals that make use of this, calling the building home as well.
The systems that take advantage of the natural elements are built into the infrastructure of the building. Detecting the temperature of the seawater and using it in a heating/cooling system makes the building use less than half of the energy a typical convention center would need for climate control. There is also a system that sources water used in the center back into the living roof eliminates the need to treat the roof or use energy for water treatment.
My Thoughts: The Vancouver Convention Centre West is an incredible feat of architecture and technology to create a smart building that is so sustainable. While the environmental focus originated more because of the publicity and cost necessity from holding the Olympic games, the introduction of smart systems to take advantage of the resources it would have access to. This is still a very progressive development even with the amount of innovation that has happened since it’s inception, pointing to how successful it is. Using sustainable smart technology like this is potentially how bigger and bigger urban developments can be financially and sustainably feasible. Where I think this project could be improved is continuing adding systems and sensors. This building has such a unique layout and position where it can really gather very important data on how our buildings interact with nature. By using sensors to see the quality of life the plants on the roof and sea life below have, we can find out more on how our developments impact wildlife. These trends can also be linked to energy usage, and how we can be more efficient and cost effective. Being able to find trends and gather data like this will push the needle on what is possible in a smart city.
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The Edge – Amsterdam, Holland
Summary: Highly touted as one of the smartest and greenest office spaces in the world, The Edge is an office building that monitors you at every junction of your life all through an app that synchronizes with the building. Created by and for Deloitte, this building is not a classic sort of office space- however one that does not have any assigned desks. By looking at the data it collects on what you do, the building will respond and assist you. On top of its human managing ability, The Edge is also able to run on almost completely net zero energy cost. This building even won the British rating agency BREEM’s highest sustainability score ever at 98.4 percent (via Bloomberg).
Objective & Systems: The systems in this building that help it’s sustainability make it so that the building effectively creates more electricity than it even uses. The central focus of the building are LED panels that use the internet cables trickle electricity as power. This layer of panels was a very expensive implementation and is called the ‘digital ceiling’. These panels have sensors to map everything including motion, light temperature, humidity, and infrared waves. It is estimated that there are over 28,000 sensors in the building (via Bloomberg). These all help drive the data collection on the people working within.
Since it is an open-concept workspace, the system is able to assign desks to people and manage the way energy is allocated based on use. This is also tied into a badge system with correlating lockers for employees, but the data from the sensors informs well beyond there. The system that handles all the data is also able to effectively determine and project costs for the future based on algorithmic patterns, and even take care of administrative tasks like figuring out when a beverage machine needs to be restocked. Parking is another example of ways that the monitoring system efficiently helps the flow of people by recognizing and assigning spaces for the day. The ‘digital ceiling’ is the enabler for automated heating and cooling systems, automated cleaning systems and more. On top of it all, much of the system is supplied energy from the solar panels located on the roof. Aside from the ‘digital ceiling’, there are other green technologies like a rainwater trickle system that is the basis of the toilet’s flushing system. Deloitte aimed to create a completely sustainable building that adapts to create the best experience for the users. This is also a proof of concept where multiple of the buildings can communicate and create a network of data to create the best possible workflow.
My Thoughts: This project is probably one of most in-depth implementations of sensors in a smart building in the world, but I am conflicted about it’s success. While it obviously is very capable of making the workspace more efficient and completely sustainable, the amount of information being gathered and the lack of privacy are concerning. A discussion that is going to be very important moving forward with innovation in smart buildings and infrastructure is how much of our privacy are we willing to give up for small conveniences. In the case of this building, I would feel constantly uncomfortable with the eerie feeling of being watched, despite the common conveniences provided. That being said, there is no doubt that the energy usage impact that monitoring people and implementing smart systems has had is significant. If every building in the world was able to effectively net zero in energy usage, the climate crisis be much less dire. For me personally, I think this project would be improved if the network of sensors was only used to maximize the environmental sustainability, and the work conveniences were left to more simple applications.
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Capital Tower – Tanjong Pagar, Singapore
Summary: The Capital Tower is one of the largest buildings in Singapore, home to several office spaces for large companies. It was build with a focus on energy savings and water efficiency, while being a cost effective home for the companies there. This was part of a larger development initiative in Singapore to create smarter and more environmentally friendly buildings. This building is notable because it won several awards for its construction and implementation, including the Green Mark Platinum Award (via PlanetechUSA).
Objective & Systems: The objective of the Capital Tower was to create a business building that was not only environmentally friendly, but also helped manage the people who work at the businesses within. The people-centric systems that are employed are to create efficiency for the working businessperson. There are smart elevators that position themselves more optimally to work faster, and they have large LCE panels that display news and stock information inside. There are also sensors to monitor the parking garage that directs people to open spaces. These work to keep traffic moving quickly in the garage and organize people in ways that would be impossible from a human viewpoint. The sensors in the parking garage also measure the air quality throughout and up into the building. Being able to detect the levels of carbon monoxide and other gasses allow for the filtration system to work as needed, and also detect any sort of emergency.
Other systems that use sensors to work only as needed are there to help the building run environmentally consciously. The glass is designed and angled to keep heat out of the building and is monitored digitally to make sure the temperature control is being used efficiently. The condensation on the outside of the building is also repurposed into the air conditioning system to even further reduce the energy usage on climate controls. The sensors in the building are always analyzing the distribution of energy usage to make sure it is at a minimum acceptable level. This was one of the primary objectives in the construction and deployment of eco-friendly systems, because being energy efficient also means that the cost of operation on the building is lower.
My Thoughts: This is a more straightforward implementation of smart buildings and infrastructure into a city that is taking large steps on becoming a true smart city. I think that this level of intuitive technology is something that can implemented in a package for almost any new urban development. One of the tradeoffs and holdbacks for certain municipalities would be the initial cost, but case studies like this show how energy efficiency winds up saving money over time. If saving the environment is a goal along with creating convenience in our life, smart city technology will become even more compelling as it is tested and becomes readily available at a reasonable cost. There are many ways that the Capital building can be improved, easily by looking at potential options from the other two examples I discussed. However, not every building needs to be that in depth to create a smart city. What is of greatest importance is building’s ability to communicate with each other and use the data they collect to create a better urban environment.
Sources
Bloomberg. (n.d.). The World’s smartest office building knows how you like your coffee. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-the-edge-the-worlds-greenest-building/
Cisco. (2022, September 21). What is a smart building? Cisco. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/smart-building/what-is-a-smart-building.html#~q-a
Cutting global carbon emissions: Where do cities stand? World Bank Blogs. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-where-do-cities-stand#:~:text=Cities%20account%20for%20over%2070,constructed%20with%20carbon%2Dintensive%20materials.
Intelligent building top 5 smart buildings – s33644.pcdn.co. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://s33644.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Intelligent-Building-Top-5-Smart-Buildings-ebook.pdf
LEED rating system. LEED rating system | U.S. Green Building Council. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://www.usgbc.org/leed
NexusAdmistraIntegra. (2022, January 14). Smart infrastructures: Essential for Smart Cities. Nexus Integra EN. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://nexusintegra.io/smart-infrastructures-essential-for-smart-cities/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20smart%20infrastructure%20is%20a,cabling%2C%20sensors%2C%20etc.)
Planet Technology USA. (2020, July 8). 7 incredible examples of smart buildings (and what makes them smart). Planet Technology USA. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://planetechusa.com/7-incredible-examples-of-smart-buildings-and-what-makes-them-smart/
Planet Technology USA. (2020, July 8). 7 incredible examples of smart buildings (and what makes them smart). Planet Technology USA. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://planetechusa.com/7-incredible-examples-of-smart-buildings-and-what-makes-them-smart/
Vancouver Convention Centre West by LMN architects. Architizer. (2018, January 10). Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://architizer.com/projects/vancouver-convention-centre-west-1/
What is a smart building? The Occupancy Monitoring Solution. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://www.trueoccupancy.com/blog/what-is-a-smart-building
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