MARKETS
Cities Cities have been described as humanity's greatest achievement. Their growth is certainly accelerating: more of us live in cities than at any other time in our history.
LÉAN DOODY Smart Cities Leader Digital
Rapid urbanisation offers opportunities for sustainable development, as services such as healthcare, housing, infrastructure, transport, energy can be more efficiently delivered in a more densely populated environment. However, delivering these services to a rapidly growing population will be challenging. John Wilmoth, Director of UN DESA’s Population Division, says “Managing urban areas has become one of the most important development challenges of the twenty-first century. Our success or failure in building sustainable cities will be a major factor in the success of the post-2015 UN development agenda.”45 Recent research by C40 shows that urban policy decisions made before 2020 could determine up to a third of the remaining global carbon budget that is not already locked in by past decisions.46 So, the decisions made by city leaders will determine whether or not the world is set on a high or low carbon pathway. Mayors
and city leaders are therefore key actors in delivering a just transition to a low-carbon economy.47 We need to make sure they are equipped with the data and tools they need to make effective decisions. Smart cities and digital twins offer some possibilities. The concept of the smart city has existed since 2000.48 The basic idea of the smart city is one in which digital technology and data are used effectively to address urban challenges. This is no longer such a radical idea as in 2000, when digital technology was still very much the purview of the office, the iPhone had only just launched and digital platforms like Uber and Airbnb were still seen as the wave of the future. Since then, we have seen the digitisation of city infrastructures providing real-time transport data, energy data from smart grids and smart metering, mobile phone data tracking the movements of whole city populations. ► 49
