What is Smart City: The Intersection of Technology and Urban Living
According to many scholars, a smart city can be defined as an urban center which is able to make efficient use of new technologies, data and knowledge as well as environmental conservation to enhance the well-being of the citizens occupying the city.
In its essence, a smart city relies on the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and the capacity of data to improve the existing physical geography, the utilization of resources, as well as the management of existing resources.
These cities plan to solve existing problems including traffic jam, environmental pollution, proper disposal of waste, and conservation of energy, and come up with solutions that make living within cities a better experience.
Although smart cities refers to an advanced technology, it is more than that. It includes smart government, smart policies, and smart people.
It is important to recall that smart cities do provide benefits that cannot be denied such as the improved safety, the options given through amounts of health data, or even better efficacy in usage of energy resources they bring perspectives that increase the complexity of housing especially.
Accessibility to cheap houses is one of the most emergent issues in all world cities.
This results in increased supply-demand pressure and increased living costs especially bearing in mind that with increased rates of urbanization social inequality is still rife in many societies.
That is why the new opportunities for the development of smart cities have both prospects and risks for the affordable housing sector.
Smart Cities and Affordable Housing: Opportunities
1. Data Management in Planning and Decision Making
Smart cities can gather data on different factors and their effectiveness arises from the fact that this data can be processed at an unprecedented scale.
It made it possible for urban planners to understand the trends of housing demands, to ration the resources available appropriately and the utilization of the available land.
For example, by comparing the growth rate in population, income status, and traffic congestion, the city administrators can decide the right positions to put houses for low-income earners.
Other smart city technologies include more efficient ways of zoning and permitting.
Most of the mechanical aids reduce on bureaucracy thus minimizing time taken by housing projects to get from planning to implementation.
For example, nowadays Singapore and Barcelona have realized that they can use digital platforms to manage urban development and improve the speed and transparency of the decisions made.
2. Economical Methods of Construction
Smart city concepts are usually implemented utilizing approaches that are efficient for home-building and can greatly lower the costs.
Such approaches as modular construction, 3D printing or using eco-friendly materials make it possible to become less costly still providing clients with the very best quality.
The stated methods also reduce construction time and do not include wastage and negative effects on the environment, which has aimed at the goals set by smart cities.
Furthermore, the use of efficient energy mix in the construction of affordable housing projects delivers long-term cost savings for the occupants.
Techno-high tech home appliances such as smart meters, solar power system, and energy efficient building materials maintain the cost efficiency at the same time being resource efficient.
For example, India’s Smart Cities Mission using sustainable construction aesthetics in housing to ensure that affordable homes are built for poor families.
3. Optimizing Space Utilization
Space is a very valuable resource in the urban setup, and smart cities are examples of ways of optimizing for space.
These cities efficiently utilize the scarce space by implementing Mixed Use building; Vertical Housing Solutions and Automate Parking systems.
For instance, architectures with the use of technology like AI come up with new architectural designs with the ability to accommodate additional units efficiently.
Smart cities can also convert most-heavily populated areas and abandoning structures to accommodate housing for low-income earners.
Conversion of the unused areas of cities to life- spirited zones restore human habitats and balance the created and affordable housing market.
Challenges and Concerns: The Other Side of the Coin
1. Rising Property Costs and Gentrification
Other emerging factors that have been named in relation to the phenomenon include: The Increase in Property prices and gentrification
Smart city initiatives’ goal is to make urban settings more inhabitable; however, they help foster gentrification.
When neighbourhoods become smarter, with good infrastructure facilities and access to needful services, property rates go up.
It does this often at the expense of low-income citizens who are forced to move out of such areas to create space for even more homes, a cruel irony given the rationale behind smart city projects is typically to find solutions to housing shortages.
For instance, landlords in San Francisco and London have evicted many poor families through targeted tech-induced gentrification of urban areas.
In turn, it becomes high time for policy makers to foster inclusive development of smart cities to accommodate all the citizens.
2. Balancing Technological Investments and Social Equity
The adoption of such measures calls for significant financial capital, which may prove a challenge to a city’s financial department.
However sometimes procurements for new technology might deflect attention on other compelling social causes such as affordable housing.
Governments must find ways of implementing recent innovative solutions in combination with the fundamental crumbling requirements of their citizens.
Additionally, it narrows the vision making an emphasis on technologies while not always considering people in the process of urban development.
For smart city advancements and innovation, they have to be compatible with and inclusive of the poor populace.
For instance, increase of affordability to access internet and information communication technology, increase of awareness of low income earners through sensitisation on ICT can all gain from smart city programs.
3. Privacy and Data Security Issues
The use of data in smart cities creates for privacy and new levels of security risks for citizens as well as businesses. If abused, housing data makes possible discrimination or violation of tenants’ rights in the provision of shelter. There is, therefore, need for the development of strong supporting policies that will guard individuals’ information, and keep data gathering for the common good.
Conclusion: The Need for Affordability as Well as Inclusion in Toward Smart Cities
These new innovative cities could help transform the way people live in them, helping solve some of the oldest problems.
In terms of focusing on the low-cost housing, these researchers’ technologies give planning tools to help in reducing cost while developing proper affordable living standards.
But it is not without risk Following are the main risks involved which can happen at any stage in the journey.
People who plan and execute smart cities face rigorous challenges including, increasing property prices, distribution of resources, and privacy in its decision-making to encourage the compatibility of such cities with sustainable accessibility and equal opportunities for all citizens.
To this end, collaboration is going to be central in realizing this vision.
Local governments, private developers, and stakeholders must ensure that they develop housing policies that would create homes that are cheap, yet incorporate technological solutions.
As experts achieve the right balance, smart cities thus become spaces where invention and openness complement each other, leading to improved quality of life of the population.
Also read: Micro Apartments – A Solution to Urban Affordability