What changes will cloud computing, big data and smart cities bring to life?

As we enter a new era of urbanization, by 2050, half of the world's population will live in cities, and human beings are consciously making our cities meet their own needs.

Technology plays an increasingly important role in our life, which makes our city life smoother. Both the sensor network and the application software to help citizens make full use of urban resources can provide us with traffic flow information or tell us the location of water pipe leakage.

But what does it really mean to live in such a city controlled by technology? Is this the future life we want?

BBC interviewed a series of experts and asked them to describe their smart city life.

Anthony townsend

"Like the marauder's map in Harry Potter, those points are signs that my friends and family are running around."

Anthony townsend

Research Director, Silicon Valley Future Institute

Writer: Smart City: Big Data, Folk Hackers, Seeking a New Utopia.

Live in new York

Unlike smart cities in Asia and the Middle East, new york's digital revolution was completed almost without warning. Urban upgrading, unlike in the past, will have large-scale physical changes: laying railways, repairing highways and crossing communities. Now we have installed millions of smart devices on micro-tools, so most of the work is hidden behind the scenes. But that doesn't mean you can't see these changes. On the streets of Manhattan, as long as you have a pair of trained eyes, you can find the hidden layers of those intelligent infrastructures. Recently, a set of antennas and cameras were hung on a traffic light bracket that has remained unchanged for a hundred years. Each building is equipped with a gray box the size of a sandwich, which sends water information to the cloud computing center of the municipal government every hour. You don't need to be an urban planner to see the real-time information of these changes. The mobile phone in the pocket is the viewfinder and remote control of the whole city. Just like Harry Porterie's marauder's map, those points are signs that my friends and family are running around. Through other applications, I can also adjust the thermostat in my apartment, call a taxi in the corner where I stand, or complain to the local government about the noise. When I saw groups of boys delivering food through applications such as Grubhub and Seam, I realized that I was not the only one who knew about these changes.

Professor Carlo Lati

A real "smart city" should also include other dimensions-it should be a creative, bottom-up recreated city with extensive participation of citizens.

Professor Carlo Lati

Director, Perceptible City Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Senior architect and engineer

Living in Singapore

Singapore, the name of which is very suitable for this small city-state extending from the Malay Peninsula, has attracted many people's attention.

Pay attention to the concept of "smart city" When you land at Changi Airport, you will find yourself in an environment full of electronic noise. It has various rapid response mechanisms, and tangible digital forms are everywhere. You can go through the highly automated immigration channel in a few minutes, and you can only eat one dessert while waiting at the counter-please note that your efficiency is too low, and you spend more than just a few desserts. When you set out for the city center, the world's first dynamic road pricing system will show you the way-this idea was subsequently adopted by cities all over the world, such as London. In Singapore, you will find yourself immersed in a relaxed and efficient symphony. however

A real "smart city" should also include other dimensions-it should be a creative, bottom-up recreated city with extensive participation of citizens. For example, my friend and colleague saskia.

As Sassen said, smart cities should make smart residents "black" and give them the ability to expand collective communication space through the explosive use of urban application software. Perhaps this will make Singapore or other cities a pioneer in the next "smart" project.

Julia michaels

Finally, the operation center put the whole city on the electronic map, observed it carefully, and then sent a team to eliminate the fire and re-direct the traffic.

Writers and bloggers

Live in Rio de Janeiro

As early as the 1970s of 19, there were large white areas on the map of Rio de Janeiro. These white areas represent urban slums or informal settlements. Planners seem to want these white areas to disappear, no matter how they disappear. Today, the operation center is working hard to draw and improve maps to meet the needs of all citizens. When seasonal rainstorm comes, the operation center will closely monitor the danger of debris flow in slums and arrange effective evacuation measures. Rio de Janeiro today is much smarter than when I 1995 first came. Before the establishment of the 20 10 operation center, Rio de Janeiro could not report to every citizen which street lamp was broken, which sewer was blocked, or which trash can was lost. When citizens call to ask, the operator of one department will connect the call to the next department, and the next department will push it to the next department.

Now you can seek solutions online or call the operation center, and most problems can be solved. Finally, the operation center put the whole city on the electronic map, observed it carefully, and then sent a team to eliminate the fire and re-direct the traffic. An expert told me that all the information collected was fully utilized. But sometimes we can't get the information we want. In June last year, before leaving home, the protesters who were preparing to protest searched the security situation in the city center online, but found no relevant image information of the city center, Jin Peng Information Smart City Software.