Smart cities: building a sustainable future

by arslan_ahmed | December 9, 2022 7:00 pm

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By Sophie Laplante

Smart buildings, and by extension smart cities, provide many benefits to end users and management alike. However, implementing interconnected systems into building design can be challenging and deciding which technologies to adopt presents its own difficulties as well.

Moving from traditional to modern operating systems is an art which involves designing, planning, using data, and the specialized expertise of owners, architects, engineers, builders, and contractors. Further, for existing buildings, it can be financially difficult to upgrade existing infrastructure. It is important to properly identify the use of a building and set the tone during the structure’s design through to the building or renovation stages. When incorporating smart technology into new builds, conversations and planning needs to take place early. This approach ensures dedicated time and effort to integrate and unify key functions into a single system, and streamline operations and craft them as a connected ecosystem.

Despite the challenges, more sectors are choosing to adopt smart buildings to improve efficiencies and streamline processes, and it is easy to see how these will contribute to the wider productivity and sustainability goals for smart cities.

Connected buildings play an important part by not only controlling the impact of the activity within its walls through the Building Management System (BMS), but also feeding into the sustainable efforts of all structures within the wider city ecosystem. Smart buildings enable a more integrated approach to improving the health and safety of residents, tenants, workers, and communities.

Challenges in the smart cities field

Smart buildings and cities are the future; the question is not an “if” but rather a “when” for most major metropolitan areas. Throughout North America and the world, cities are on different timelines when it comes to adopting smart technologies and improving the quality of life for residents and tenants, but the shift is inevitable. In part, this shift—in Canada at least—is motivated by government mandates surrounding sustainability, emissions, and energy efficiency. The federal government has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by the year 2050, with several provinces and cities already having made similar commitments.¹ Smart city initiatives are becoming increasingly common throughout North America, and this means building engineers and architects must consider new challenges which come with the integration of smart technologies into new and existing constructions.

Retrofitting

One of the greatest challenges of transforming existing buildings into smart buildings is the retrofitting process. Older buildings are, by nature, already built and this can pose challenges when new technology needs to be installed and integrated. It can be difficult to run cabling, install hardware, or interface with legacy systems present in the building. Upgrading older spaces can become prohibitively expensive, even with federal government assistance such as the Smart Cities Challenge.²

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Beyond the physical challenges posed by retrofitting, there are technological roadblocks which can crop up when attempting to work with older, analogue systems. For example, should a building owner/operator want to introduce smart monitoring systems which integrate with the HVAC system to intelligently control the temperature of a room based on the amount of people present. An older system may complicate this process, as an engineer tries to combine smart surveillance monitoring and vintage HVAC control systems. Some companies do offer products which are designed to integrate with older systems, keeping costs down and preventing the need to upgrade and dispose of the older system. This itself is a sustainable venture, working to prolong the life of existing systems and reduce waste.

Infrastructure

This is a deceptively simple challenge faced by all smart buildings and cities. As an engineer designing a smart building, there will be extra considerations needed for network and power connectivity. This is nothing new to the building industry of course, but smart buildings integrate more devices than traditional construction, and this will affect new and old buildings alike.

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For a new building, planning for smart devices as early as possible is ideal, the presence of cameras, sensors, and other devices will inform the layout and extensiveness of a building’s network and power infrastructure. A large internet protocol (IP) network can power and connect the building’s smart devices, allowing them to integrate with one another and operate at peak efficiency.

On a larger scale, cities must be prepared for the increased power draw which comes with an increase in smart devices throughout the city. Obviously, each individual device draws a small amount of power, but when a smart city initiative leads to the installation of thousands of cameras and sensors throughout the city, the increased power draw can become an important factor to consider.

Scalability

An important aspect of smart building technology is its ability to be scaled into the future. Cities will continue to grow, and this means smart systems will have to keep pace with this expansion. Implementing smart lighting systems, for example, may be relatively simple when done for a few major community areas within a city, such as parks. However, the same smart lighting system needs to be able to handle future expansions which will involve more devices over a greater area.

Can this network and power infrastructure handle that expansion? Can the current city work force adequately maintain and monitor the lighting systems? Questions such as these must be asked and addressed when it comes to implementing smart city solutions, as a lack of foresight and planning will lead to issues further down the line.

Even something more traditional, such as a surveillance system, must consider scalability. If the amount of IP cameras in a smart building increase, the network infrastructure needed will also increase, along with the required storage capacity of the network video recorder. For a building engineer, these considerations will affect the planning process as well as the project’s pricing and should always be kept in focus. Designing a system which can handle thousands of surveillance cameras might seem to be an overkill by today’s standards, but decades from now, it may prove to be an invaluable investment.

Local politics

Perhaps the most variable challenge on this list is political opinion surrounding smart buildings and cities. Some smart buildings and cities may wish to integrate technologies and practices which could be the recipient of legal pushback. Political opinions may differ on the importance of smart city projects, and a shift in government parties could undo the efforts of previous political leaders. This is mostly out of any engineer or architects’ control, but it is important to stay up to date on the opinions of politicians regarding smart buildings and cities.

Security issues

Just as any aspect of building management, the data and systems used in smart buildings must be kept secure. In the event of a data breach or system disruption, several key pieces of infrastructure could be brought down simultaneously, or large swathes of personal data could be compromised. The centralized nature of smart building systems is both an advantage and a risk. For example, a building which uses smart surveillance systems to monitor optimal lighting, HVAC operation, and secure access options could be greatly impacted if its surveillance system was brought down by intruders or malicious actors. Smart building systems must be treated with the same amount of gravitas that other key pillars of building management are granted.

Data processing and analytics

Smart buildings and cities are built on data collection, aggregation, and analysis. Data collection is perhaps the most straightforward aspect, as smart devices are constantly collecting data, and the best products will organize and display it in helpful ways. Data points are created by defining a discrete unit of information. In a smart surveillance system, a data point can be defined as the number of people currently in a room or how many people have entered a specific area over the course of a day. Sensors can be programmed to collect information; however, collecting this data is only half the battle. It must be aggregated and then analyzed into interpretable information to promote sustainability and business development efforts.
So, how can data be made interpretable?

Datapoints gathered through monitoring can be harnessed into information through centralized hubs such as dashboards or command centres. These analytic tools process the data into usable insights through grouping and cleaning data points. Having data stored in a centralized database makes it easier to process, interpret, access, and export for the business partners involved. In a smart surveillance system, it is possible to analyze how many people entered a specific area over the course of a day compared to yesterday, the last week, or the year prior; then by incorporating data points such as the weather or time of the day, users can impact the output, and turn it into analyzed, actionable data.

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Data privacy and protection

Once data has been collected, aggregated, analyzed, and utilized, there is a further concern regarding the security of the data being collected and stored. This concern is twofold: one half concerns the privacy of people in public and private settings, and the other concerns the security of stored data which may compromise individual privacy if accessed by malicious actors.

For smart surveillance systems, the capture of people’s faces and bodies is seemingly unavoidable. Not everyone is comfortable having their presence recorded and stored, and there may be legal ramifications if the privacy of the public is not treated properly. To work around this, some manufacturers of smart surveillance systems offer supplementary software which safeguards privacy through dynamic masking of bodies and faces in real-time and recorded video. This means a system can still monitor the coming and going of individuals or count the amount of people in a room without compromising the privacy of those same individuals.

The inverse could also be useful in certain situations, such as blurring the details of a background if sensitive material is viewable from an IP camera. If the video feed or recording is compromised, sensitive private information has already been scrubbed from the camera, affording an additional layer of protection.

Co-ordination between public and private entities

Building and upgrading buildings and cities inherently entails a level of collaboration between public and private entities. Smart lighting systems in cities, for example, necessitate a private designer, contractor, and installer to work in tandem with city staff to create a system which serves the interests of the public. Architects and engineers need to understand the context of their building design in the overall city location. They need to work with city officials responsible for approving building permits, therefore due diligence is required for the same transparent communication, design, and construction methods, and lastly, the approval process with the smart city plan within a city. Some U.S. and Australian smart cities building codes have been put into place for decarbonization and sustainability planning, and Canada also has a plan of action.⁴

Education and lack of information

Engineers and architects need to know what their options are to offer a higher quality of living for their residents and make their projects more sustainable. Unfortunately, there is uncertainty surrounding the smart technology available to them. Fortunately, there are methods to expand their knowledge. Professional events in their regions give opportunities to learn what is new to the industry and how smart systems are innovating industries.

Professional development is another route, as many engineers and architects must continually develop their skills in their profession for designation requirements. Additionally, the communities and networks of architects and engineers hold a vast breadth of knowledge and people love to share what they know. Harnessing social profiles such as LinkedIn to hear what other professionals are working on and connecting with them offline creates new lines of communication and deepened relationships.

Social inclusion

Initiatives surrounding smart buildings and cities should aim to uplift as many people as possible. This means projects should improve the quality of life for all members of society, instead of a privileged few. For example, if a transit company introduces a mobile app which provides real-time transit information, individuals without access to a mobile device or mobile data plans also need to be considered and included in this initiative. Perhaps Wi-Fi hotspots are built into transit vehicles, or the information from the app is accessible through displays at transit stations.

For a smart building, if an engineer intends to include secure access systems which can be used through a person’s smartphone, they must similarly consider not everyone enjoys the same access to technology, and plan accordingly.

Benefits

Despite all these challenges facing smart buildings and cities, the benefits cannot be overstated. In terms of quality of life and long-term sustainability, smart systems are an essential aspect of future planning for buildings and cities, with numerous applications for all kinds of use cases which can enrich the lives of all city inhabitants.

Smart technology provides several quality-of-life benefits for individual civilians, starting at the simplest aspects of building use: access and comfort. It is important to introduce security and smart technology consultants as early in the design process as possible to be proactive and reduce overall costs of implementing smart systems.

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In the case of smart access systems, engineers and architects can design a building which provides enhanced security and convenience to residents and visitors through implementing secure access systems. Through the integration of top-quality products, building management can control all aspects of a building’s entry points, down to setting specific windows of time for separate points of entry for a set of people. For residents and their visitors, building management can easily generate single use or timed quick response (QR) codes which allow entry into a building, even if the resident is not at home. Modern access and intercom systems are touchless, with high quality two-way video to allow residents to identify visitors even when they are not at home with the use of
smartphone applications.

In terms of comfort, smart buildings can do a lot to improve the lives of residents in small ways and the overall sustainability and efficiency of a building through smart sensing and monitoring systems. Some examples this article has already touched on are variable HVAC adjustments based on the number of people in a room, or automatic lighting for common areas when residents and tenants enter them. Smart systems can extend to other areas of a residence or tenant’s space, offering live updates on the number of available parking spots in a garage or exercise bikes in a gym, optimizing building clean schedules based on foot traffic, or quickly detecting hazardous conditions and preemptively protecting residents.

A heavy basis in surveillance

The root these comforts and conveniences is surveillance. Whether the source is a camera or a sensor, data is collected through surveillance systems before it is aggregated and analyzed to enhance the lives of a smart city’s citizens.

On a grander scale, for public and private spaces, surveillance systems can provide a varied wealth of information which can be used for smart solutions. Data sourced from surveillance can inform building and city managers of how many people are in a building or area, how many people have entered through a specific doorway, how many parking spots are available at a public park, which roads have less congested traffic for faster emergency response times, which queues at public events are become disproportionately long, and which public streetlights are needed most often.

All this data can be applied to public works projects which will reduce power usage and emissions through more efficient use of lighting and less time spent driving through parking lots.

Sustainability

One of the prime goals of smart building and city initiatives should be working towards a sustainable future. As smart lighting and HVAC systems strive to lower energy consumption in low-traffic areas, parking availability updates reduce unnecessary laps or idling in vehicles, and intelligent traffic monitoring reduces congestion while optimizing public transit routing, smart building and city technologies work towards sustainability commitments made by countries, provinces, and cities.

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In the name of sustainability, engineers and architects designing smart buildings and cities have a responsibility to source and integrate high-end products which are committed to reducing waste and product churn. Products which can integrate with older, existing systems are the best choice for building and city design, especially for cities with large amounts of pre-existing infrastructure. If a building engineer or architect is retrofitting a building, then specifying products which do not require existing systems to be trashed and replaced work better for environmental reasons. This also extends to the lifespan of products. In surveillance especially, technology is always evolving, and thus current products can be rapidly superseded by more advanced systems. Product manufacturers which promise long product lifespans with support into the future are ideal choices, as this equates to reduced waste over the duration of a building’s operation.

Conclusion

The pandemic has launched both studies and discussions on the topic of smart cities. How can cities, buildings, transportation, and overall community mobility and connected communities work better for us? Despite the some of the challenges posed by implementing smart building and city technologies before the pandemic, there is now more interest in the adoption and advancement of these smart systems across the globe. In fact, a recent study was done, to explore the change in attitude and behaviour towards technology in smart cities by comparing the different variations of technology anxiety before and after the advent of the pandemic.³

In fact, the turning point for the resolution of a pandemic would also concern citizens’ behaviour by referring to their acceptance of technological changes, their willingness to use technology to reframe their lives, and in the removal of psychological barriers (privacy concerns, perception of inability, etc.) for employing technology successfully and solving the socio-economic crisis introduced by a public health emergency.³ 

Despite the numerous challenges posed by implementing smart building and city technologies, there is still widespread adoption and advancement of these smart systems across
the globe.

Smart cities are not going away, and their relationship with national sustainability goals means their role will only grow in importance as the years go by. As a building engineer or architect, it is essential to consider the implementation of smart technologies as early as possible in the design process. The benefits of smart technologies make the costs and challenges associated with designing smart buildings and cities worthwhile, and choosing smart technologies with long lifespans and versatile integration options with existing infrastructure helps reduce waste and emissions. Ultimately, smart buildings enable a more integrated approach to improving the health and safety of residents, workers, and communities.

Notes

¹ Learn more about Canada’s plan to reduce carbon emissions by 2050. Visit https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/net-zero-emissions-2050.html[7].

² Read more about the Smart Cities Challenge. Visit https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/cities-villes/index-eng.html[8].

³ Learn more about the public’s opinion on smart cities. Visit https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8420312/[9]

⁴ More on Canadian Smart City initiatives. Visit https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/emmc/pdf/BuildSmart-infographic_EN_accessible.pdf[10]

[11]Author

Sophie Laplante is the business development manager, cities, Canada with Axis Communications. Laplante’s causes are civil rights and social action, education, the environment and health, and science and technology. She is ASIS Montreal chapter co-director, and part of the WIS International Committee.

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/smart-cities-building-a-sustainable-future/

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