How do you envision the city of the future?

By Henrik Grosse Hokamp

Trends in Urbanization

Development of fast growing mega-cities will put pressure on the transportation and energy infrastructure as well as on the real estate market

Trend could result into a failure of infrastructure and the development of slums

Source: United Nations: World Urbanization Prospects 2014

Urban and rural population of the world, 1950–2050

Trends in Urbanization

New technological developments will be the most likely solution to prevent this from happening.

Focus on: Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications Innovative transportation devices Alternative energy sources

Data Collection

Big Data as the first stepping stone towards a „Smart City“

Data collection through infrastructure of sensors

Tracking of, for example, infrastructure usage, weather and moving patterns

Source: trsp.net/cow

Traffic data of Madrid

Local Transportation

Multiple transportation devices are being used interchangeably

Sharing economy and technology will lead to more efficient use of transportation assets

Smart traffic will lead to a decline in traffic jams and parking shortage

Excurse: Impact of self driving vehicles

Drastic increase of traffic on the road

Commute by car will be more comfortable which will lead to decentralizations of cities

Impacts also on retail sector: delivery of goods and services direct to the home

Regional Transportation

Traffic between cities will intensify and lead to the creation of transportation hubs

Inter-city links will grow (e.g. highways, high speed railways)

Need for new mega airports Have to be build in the outskirt of

the city due to noise and limited space

Will be connected with high speed public transport (e.g. magnetic levitation trains) to make the airport accessible

Energy The use of alternative energy sources in energy

generation as well as for transportation will lead to an improvement of air quality

Use of smart grid and newly available storage opportunities will lead to higher stability of energy networks and lower energy costs

Source: Statista

Waste Management

Automatic waste sorting and recycling

Tracking of household trash production and charging accordingly

Garbage bins with sensors will make garbage collection more efficient

Security

Further surveillance and the use of big data to predict crimes will lead to an overall higher security level

However, privacy issues will play a bigger role in policy decisions

Retail

E-commerce and alternative shopping opportunities will eat away market share of traditional retailers

Retail shopping will turn into an experience

More Pop-Up-Stores for higher priced items

Recreation

Work and recreation facilities will be connected

Nature moves back into the city -> roof parks, greenification of abdomen infrastructure, car free areas

New recreation opportunities inside the city

Tourism

Short term city trips will continue to grow in demand

Globalization leads to similar cities and makes it more difficult for cities to build there own brand and uniqueness

What needs to happen to make this vision reality?

Brave and ambitious city planning

Huge investment in innovative infrastructure Broadband and wireless internet Railroads, streets and airports Alternative energy production

Large scale trials with real users

General acceptance of Big Data and Internet of Things

Plan can just be realized with the support of the inhabitants. A possible way to achieve this is through crowd sourcing of ideas and a transparent decision making process