What is a Smart City? Understanding IoT tech inclusion in cities and its Pros & Cons

In this modern technological era, the prompt emergence of new smart cities with the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine interaction led to an integrated environment. This data-driven technology will not only raise living standards through sustainability but also ensure public safety in the cities. However, there are a few aspects to be taken into account. Challenges like significant capital investment in infrastructure as well as security and privacy concerns need to be considered for the successful accomplishment of smart cities. To commence with, let us discuss the potential merits of digital cities with the Internet of Things.

Smart Cities & IoT 

First and foremost, smart cities are an initiative towards sustainable life. As these are built with eco-friendly buildings, inexhaustible energy sources, and air quality sensors, they immediately reduce the negative impact on the ecosystem and lead individuals towards a healthy and better lifestyle.

In addition, smart cities aid in building safer communities. When smart cities are initiated with technologies like connected crime centers, video surveillance cameras, gunshot detection systems, and next-generation 911, it highly leads to a reduction in crime rate by assuring public safety protocols.

For instance, New York City has a data analysing system to detect crime hot spots and an installed gunshot detection system that provides data to a cloud platform to estimate the location of guns that is further apprised to the nearby police. 

Benefits of building smart cities with IoT & machine-to-machine interaction

There are many more benefits of building smart cities with machine-to-machine interaction and smart sensor technologies.

• Digital cities have strategies for better resource management. Sensors in garbage containers can provide data to collectors through apps to amend the timetable accordingly via the real-time monitoring of container levels and thus help in reducing the time and resource consumption in the work.
• Moreover, IoT sensors can be installed for smart traffic management. When smart cities have sensors installed in traffic lights and the vehicles are also connected via sensor apps, it becomes much more efficient to control the heavy traffic flow and suggest to commuters the best possible path to reach their destination without increasing their carbon footprint in traffic congestions. To exemplify, according to research done in the past showed that there will be around 6.2 million vehicles connected to each other by 2023 which will ensure road safety as well as reduce the chances of congestion and accidents. 

Challenges of building a smart city

On the contrary, some challenges need to be addressed before building a digital city.

• Primarily, capital investment for infrastructure and digitalisation is a challenging task. While building smart cities, there is a necessity for faster cyberspace connectivity. For building up the digital ecosystem and upgrading to quality infrastructure for optimal communications, a large amount of finance is a prerequisite. 
• Secondly, the privacy and security of the network can be at risk due to the digital dependence of smart cities. As smart cities operated by IoT devices work with high-speed Internet, there is increased vulnerability to cyber-attacks and crimes.
• Plethora of tech companies are working in this field to protect against advanced cyber-attacks with smart solutions like blockchain technologies. For example, the hacker may interfere with the working of smart cities through security loopholes which may ultimately cause a complete shutdown of the city in a short period.

To conclude, the interconnectivity in digital towns through the Internet of Things and machine-to-machine interconnection is resulting in a digitalised system. Although potential benefits like sustainable life and safety with better resource management, challenges like smart infrastructure connectivity and the vulnerability to cyberattacks need to be tackled in the building of cities.