INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Future smart
city initiatives to
enshrine ‘Green’
B
y 2020, half of all the smart
city objectives will include
climate change, resilience
and sustainability key performance
indicators (KPIs), according to Gartner,
Inc. Cities are defining new objectives
and placing them into tangible
programs. This creates measurable
outcomes that meet the targets agreed
upon at the COP 21 in Paris to reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
“With the Horizon 2020 goals of
energy efficiency, carbon emission
reductions and renewable energy
in mind, many cities in Europe have
launched energy sustainability,
resource management, social inclusion
and community prosperity initiatives,”
said Bettina Tratz-Ryan, research vice
president at Gartner.
Tratz-Ryan discussed how Internet
of Things (IoT) technologies, and
the ability to analyse data in a
contextualised way, can accelerate the
development of smart city execution
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INTELLIGENTCIO
during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which
is taking place here through Thursday.
related to climate change, resilience and
sustainability outcome.
Urban mobility drives
sustainability targets
Major world cities have adopted traffic
and mobility objectives to resolve or
mitigate the traffic congestion issue
with IoT-enabled smart city solutions,
but urban mobility does not stop at a
seamless choice that consist of moving
from A to B.
“The Florence card provides free
transportation on electric buses
to many touristic sites, helping
improve the cultural and touristic
experience of the visitors while using
environmentally friendly electric
buses,” Tratz-Ryan said. “This example
shows that there are economic
advantages in those measures that
can be also directly related to climate
change, resilience and sustainability
outcome.”
“The uptake of ride sharing, the
electrification of public transportation,
the support infrastructure for e-vehicles
and congestion charging for combustion
engines, all of those examples are
driving cleaner air, producing fewer
GHG emissions and saving energy,
while improving the noise levels and
ambience on streets,” Tratz-Ryan said.
She cited the Florence card as an
example of how there can be a
substantial economic benefit in those
measures that can be also directly
Sensors have become a critical element
in the execution of climate change goals
and are at the heart of smart cities.
According to Gartner, in 2017 around
380 million connected things will be
in use in cities to deliver sustainability
and climate change goals, and this
figure will increase to 1.39 billion units
in 2020, representing 20% of all smart
city connected things in use. In 2017,
use cases in smart commercial buildings
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