The Environmental Impact of Smart Cities Around The World

What is a Smart City?

Today, everything from watches to houses are being made “smart”, but the signifiers of smart consumer electronics products differ from what constitutes a smart city. Cities are multi-faceted organisms of society that house over half of the world’s population (UN, 2018), and because of each of their intricacies, it can be difficult to pinpoint what makes a city smart. Being “smart” on such a large scale requires the collaboration of data systems, policy, and knowledgeable personnel to operate beneficially. Collaboration between infrastructure to make data-driven decisions about city functions on a large scale to create efficiency and cohesion is what makes a city “smart”.

Smart Energy and Environment

A key struggle for many cities is their energy consumption and negative environmental impact. Starting with energy, a study conducted by the United Nations found that cities consume between 60 and 80 percent of energy worldwide (UN, 2008, as cited in Albinio, 2015). Because of the population density in cities, this level of energy consumption is foreseeable, but with coal and natural gas still being the primary energy production methods across the globe (Ritchie, Roser, 2022), finding new ways for cities to produce clean energy is vital. Along with the amount of greenhouse gases being burned to power cities, they also produce lots of waste. By 2025, it is estimated that world cities will generate 2.2 billion tons of waste per year (Hoornweg, Bhada-Tata, 2012). This figure is alarmingly high, and it poses a problem that doesn’t have one clear solution. The scope of the environmental issues that cities pose requires the attention of local government and most importantly, the city’s population. Incentivizing communities to make environmentally conscious decisions regarding their waste and other lifestyle habits is key to reducing environmental harm from cities. In addition to physical waste, cities also account for 70% of global CO₂ emissions (World Bank, 2022). Whether through idling cars or carbon-intensive transportation infrastructure, CO₂ emissions of the world’s cities are a central focus of making cities more environmentally friendly.

Chicago, Illinois 

Chicago, Illinois is an environmentally conscious city that has continuously made strides to become “smart” through technology and local policy.  Chicago’s most well-known smart city technology is its Array of Things, or AOT, and this technology uses environmental data collection to track standard information like temperature and humidity, but also goes deeper with air quality sensors that can track harmful fumes in the city (Array of Things, 2020). The wealth and quality of information provided by the AOT trickles down into every part of the city, and data from seemingly disjunct city domains can be used to put together solutions for the environmental sustainability of Chicago. For example, information from AOT nodes placed in congested areas can be sent to the Chicago Department of Transportation, which can then regulate traffic lights to improve the flow and efficiency in what was previously a congested area (CDOT, 2019). For the city’s convenience, an infrastructure feature like this is nice, but the less apparent benefit in a situation like this is the reduction of carbon emissions and harmful gases being released in the same area. Another environmental initiative Chicago is working on is the Climate Action Plan, or CAP. The overarching goal of this initiative is to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 62% by 2040 (City of Chicago, 2022). The plan is broken down into different “pillars”, which includes the household level, larger economic level, transportation, clean energy, and public health. Of these pillars, the second one is incredibly ambitious, the city aims to divert 90% of commercial, industrial, and institutional waste by 2030, as it accounts for 7% of the city’s greenhouse emissions (2022). To achieve this goal, the city plans to build circular economies and encourage recycling throughout the city. Pillar three sets to create a zero-emission transportation network that will be viable to get anywhere in the city. Highlights of this pillar’s goals include the electrification of the city’s transit vehicles by 2040, and updated land policies to encourage walking, biking, or city transportation, as opposed to individual vehicles (City of Chicago, 2022).

Both of these environmental initiatives already are successful and will continue to be moving forward because of the thought being put into them. The Array of Things in Chicago is a futuristic, technological marvel that will continue to provide insight into key city attributes and help the city be environmentally conscious. Chicago’s Climate Action Plan identifies and addresses areas of the city that need improved, and also lays out a theoretical roadmap for what needs to change to get to its goals. One thing that stood out about the CAP was the self-awareness that the authors showed when explaining the scope and realities of their situation. This self-awareness contributes to the moral of the city’s plan and will ultimately help Chicago realize its goals.

Osaka, Japan

 

Since the 1970s, Osaka, Japan suffered from air and water contamination as result of the city’s industrial sprawl. To combat the declining environmental conditions, Osaka has been working on multiple environmental initiatives, and has also adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (City of Osaka, 2021). The first initiative, “Zero Carbon Osaka”, focuses on reducing carbon emissions through government policy and expansion of renewable energy sources for citizens and corporations to use by 2050 (City of Osaka, 2021). One prominent, forward-thinking renewable energy effort, “Osaka Hikari-no-Mori Project”, or “Forest of Light Project” began in 2012 as a corporate collaboration seeing nine large Japanese companies come together to build a “mega-solar” plant built on a large landfill in Yumeshima to generate power in local urban communities (Sumitomo Corp., 2013). This initiative may not implement sensor arrays or large-scale autonomation processes, but it addresses the urgent needs of a community that, for decades had been an inefficient and environmentally detrimental city, and aids it in being smarter.

In addition to its carbon emission efforts, Osaka has also successfully reduced its waste output over the last few decades. Much of this improvement has been the result of the city’s government heavily promoting recycling. In January of 2019, Osaka’s mayor enacted the Declaration toward Zero Plastic Waste, which aims to combat the rapid and widespread use of plastic since the mid-20^th century (Matsui, Yoshimura, 2019). In this declaration, Matsui and Yoshimura state “… with the cooperation of citizens and companies, to work continuously toward zero plastic waste… (2019)”. This excerpt from the declaration touches on a crucial factor in the “smartification” of a city, being the involvement and participation of the city’s population. Osaka’s government has gotten its community on board with this initiative by making it convenient for everyone to make environmentally conscious decisions without the traditional burden associated with recycling and composting waste. Programs like the Small Appliance Recycling Act and MARINE Initiative have helped to mitigate waste in efficient and non-obtrusive ways including the placement of collection boxes located at 300 public buildings and 61 private facilities (Ahuja, 2015). Alongside realized government initiatives, Osaka has also increased environmental awareness by pushing the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) around the city to ensure that the Zero Plastic Waste Declaration becomes a reality for the city.

Between the Zero Plastic Waste Declaration and Zero Carbon Osaka initiatives alone, Osaka has been improved, and these progressive steps forward are what sets the city apart from ones that haven’t worked as diligently towards a sustainable future. Because so much of a city’s environmental footprint is directly related to the population of that city, it is important for the city’s government to make data-driven decisions to ensure they are on the right track to becoming a smart city.

London, England

Every aspect of London is being made high-tech, and the city’s environmental impact is being taken very seriously. The city is working from the ground up to guarantee that waste, emissions, and local economy are all being considered during the rollout of various sustainability initiatives. One of the more expansive goals being pushed by the Greater London Authority (GLA) is the idea of building London based off a circular economy, which is a system that uses materials for as long as possible, then are reused or recycled to create as little waste as possible, if any (City of London, 2020). This poses the question: how does this concept apply to a city? First, a huge part of any city are the buildings and any other publicly accessible areas, and these areas require tons of resources to create, maintain, and potentially demolish. Taking the idea of a circular economy, the GLA has implemented high regulatory standards for the construction of new buildings and energy efficiency standards for existing commercial and domestic property through the Retrofit Accelerator program (London & Partners, 2021). This program has already been proven successful, as over 800 public buildings have been retrofitted with more energy efficient designs. Continuing with London’s circular economy, but on a more individual level, is ReLondon; the city’s push for small to medium-sized businesses to drive a transition to a “regenerative and waste-free world in London’s Circular Economy (ReLondon, 2022)”. The reason ReLondon is focusing particularly on small and medium-sized businesses is because the organization cites 50% of all business waste comes from these sizes (2022). Along with businesses operating in the city, London has also introduced stricter requirements for packaging, including the plastic packaging tax which will be placed on plastics that do not contain at least 30% recycled material, inclining business to make more environmentally responsible choices in their business model (City of London, 2021).

As a whole, London is moving in a very environmentally positive direction that begins with its captivating imagery and messaging through various pieces of marketing and data presentation. ReLondon’s vision and push from the GLA is treating the world’s current climate crisis with the level of severity it deserves, but in a way that is tangible for its community. London’s Green Sustainability Guide is an all-inclusive resource for the ways London is currently working towards improving their footprint, that also includes plenty of community guidance for what individuals should work on to improve waste management in their own life. Paired with policy change from local governance, London’s vision of a smarter and more sustainable version of itself is not only a powerful plan that will increase the city’s lifespan, but also a model for other cities to take for inspiration in their own move to becoming smart.

References

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Official start of environmental contribution project –“Osaka Hikari-no-Mori Project” – on Yumeshima, Osaka. (2013, November 11). Sumitomo Corporation. https://www.sumitomocorp.com/en/jp/news/release/2013/group/20131111

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