Category: Smart City

The number of internet of things (IoT) connected devices installed in commercial smart buildings reached more than 1.5 billion in 2022, according to smart building research specialist Memoori. This represents around 11.8 per cent of the total installed base of connected devices worldwide. It forecasts that the number used in commercial smart buildings will grow at a 13.7 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2023 and 2028, reaching an estimated 3.25 billion devices by 2028. IoT adoption phase Memoori reports that growth in the total installed base is…

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Dubai is launching a platform to encourage citizens to provide feedback and contribute to enhancing its government services. The platform will allow officials and stakeholders to directly receive and respond to customers’ opinions, suggestions, and ideas and any challenges they may face through a three-step process. Digital Dubai The launch of 04 platform aligns with Dubai’s 360 Services policy, which places customers at the heart of developing government services and provides them with a unified platform to voice their opinions, offer suggestions and raise any challenges or complaints. It was…

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The Saudi Arabian greenfield development of Neom has chosen Worley to provide engineering and advisory services to its energy and water company, Enowa. It will provide the water supply infrastructure that will deliver up to two million cubic meters of desalinated water per day to the site, which will include The Line smart city development. Water infrastructure projects The project scopes relate to water production, brine beneficiation, management, and storage. The water infrastructure projects will be powered by renewable electricity, and the desalination process will not discharge any brine into…

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Mount Hampden, New Harare, has broken ground on a new $500m (Dh1.83bn) hi-tech park near the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Zim Cyber City, being developed by UAE-based diversified industrial conglomerate Mulk International is currently under construction. Mixed-use development The master plan for the 2.5 million square feet mixed-use development includes a newly completed parliament building, ministry buildings as well as high-end residential and commercial buildings. Zim Cyber City will facilitate the use of blockchain and digital assets licences, bank accounts, office space and high-end residential living for all entities and individuals…

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The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is officially launching the first service phase of its virtual municipal world, Metaverse Seoul. It purports to be the first-ever platform of its kind globally, after having undergone a beta test of various administrative services such as economy, education, and tax affairs. Metaverse Seoul SMG said Metaverse Seoul is designed to provide various public services while focusing on “freedom, inclusion, and connection” as the three core values of the platform. It aims to establish a hyper-realistic community space of creativity and communication that is accessible…

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Dubai has unveiled The Loop, a 93 km sustainable urban highway that aims to become the smartest cycling and running infrastructure in the world and which aligns with the emirate’s 20-minute city initiative. Designed by sustainable cities developer Urb, it seeks to connect more than three million residents with a healthy mode of transport and key services and locations within minutes. Climate controlled environment The Loop will provide a climate controlled all-year environment, to make walking and cycling the primary mode of transport for Dubai’s residents for daily commutes for…

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Autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) company EHang is partnering with Qingdao West Coast New Area in China to create an urban air mobility (UAM) applications demonstration area. The AAV company will also establish a Northeast Asia regional headquarters as well as a national firefighting business centre in the area. Smart urban air mobility solutions Qingdao West Coast New Area is one of China’s national new areas in Shandong province. It will facilitate the local governments’ applications of EHang’s full range of products while providing support to the company’s local business operations,…

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The German city of Cologne has deployed a geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) digital twin solution for streamlining the its wastewater operations. The solution automatically detects changes in paved surfaces that affect drainage, enabling Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln, AöR (Cologne StEB), Cologne’s municipal wastewater authority, to calculate wastewater taxes on private lands more efficiently. Labour-intensive Prior to the use of Hexagon’s GeoAI, the tax assessment process was labour-intensive. Property owners rarely reported the addition or removal of paved areas, requiring Cologne StEB to collect and record data manually, then validate the information with…

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Global public and private investment levels in green urban infrastructure are expected to increase from $606bn in 2022 to $978bn in 2030 across a wide range of green assets, according to new research. The extent of this includes city parks, urban forests, blue spaces such as ponds and lakes, rooftop gardens, green walls and buildings, and pedestrianised green streets as part of new urban concepts. Neom Regreening Example projects from global technology intelligence firm ABI Research’s Green Urban Infrastructure report are the green makeover of the Champs Élysées in Paris…

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Rates of Retrofitting buildings, considered essential to reduce energy costs and help combat the global energy crisis, need to treble to meet the goals in the Paris Agreement, according to new research. JLL’s Retrofitting Buildings to be Future-Fit research warns that net-zero carbon (NZC) intervention measures directly impact a building’s bottom line and that failing to decarbonise leads to “significant financial risk”. Decarbonisation targets For many buildings, meeting 2050 decarbonisation targets put forward in the Paris Climate Agreement is grounded in retrofitting current spaces, which can also garner higher rents,…

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