Moscow Government’s Department of Information Technology has recently conducted a study on 14 smart cities. Experts analysed a total of 38 smart projects carried out in Barcelona, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dubai, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, New York, San Diego, Seoul, Singapore, and Toronto. Their goal was to identify key trends in the smart cities’ development.
There were six areas of projects researched in the course of the study: human and social resources, urban environment, digital mobility, security and environment, the urban economy and e-government. The department summarised the key trends in the development of smart cities and identified the best foreign projects in these areas.
“We are working on the front lines and are cooperating with other cities and foreign and Russian businesses, as well as start-ups and large corporations. We are studying the global experience to find where new technologies and solutions are implemented, and what can be adopted to improve the processes; where the quality of public services can be improved, and where the management system can be made more efficient,” said Eduard Lysenko, Head of the Department of Information Technology.
New York, for instance, introduced free workshops on providing psychology assistance, which resulted in a decrease in the city’s suicide rate, while London organised a foundation to support its young people, which reduced unemployment and crime. Hong Kong introduced multifunctional streetlamps that record data on the life in the city in real time. Sensors collect information on weather, temperature and air quality as well as the people and vehicles around them. Dubai is now opening its first smart officer-free police stations; San Diego is using drones to respond to emergency situations, Toronto is testing a waste management app.
“The research on smart cities showed that Moscow is developing in the right direction: the introduction of the Moscow Electronic School (MES), Integrated Medical Information and Analytical System (IMIAS), video surveillance, digital government services, free citywide Wi-Fi, plus the development of the sharing economy and pilot projects carried out in various areas of municipal infrastructure exemplify this,” Lysenko said.