Ravi Chandran
What is real estate’s role in realising the Smart Cities promise?
With the ongoing process of urbanisation, the potential of smart cities has captured the imagination of governments and businesses worldwide.
Cities across the world are racing to implement new solutions and investing billions to adopt new technologies that promise to make urban life more connected, efficient and sustainable.
But what is the smart cities experience for the people who inhabit them? Are government and corporate investments in these solutions paying off? Has the smart city concept finally evolved from buzzword to reality?
Our latest report aims to answer these important questions. It looks behind the hype to understand the reality of what it means to live, work, play and invest in a smart city. It also reveals the pivotal role real estate plays, and that proptech – the convergence of property and technology – will be key to powering the cities of tomorrow.
Key themes
- A meaningful definition of smart cities for governments, businesses and citizens
- The eight ways real estate will deliver on the smart cities promise
- The issues preventing smart cities from reaching their full potential
- Identifying smart cities opportunities in Asia Pacific for real estate investors and corporate occupiers
The research on Smart Cities lists Singapore’s Opportunities and Challenges as follows:
Opportunities
- Political stability allows for a long-term smart city strategy with minimal risk of the project being abandoned by a change in political leadership.
- The business-friendly environment attracts leading technology vendors and talent.
- Singapore is one of the global leaders for smart mobility, healthcare, safety and digital citizen services.
Challenges
- A conservative approach to smart city trials could benefit from an appetite for calculated risk and the acceptance of failed projects.
- Recent data breaches have increased citizen awareness of cybersecurity risks to their personal data.
- There are skills shortages in emerging technologies, including AI, big data and robotics.
Moving towards a collaborative future – Innovation through collaboration
Innovation in smart cities is about more than technology said the research. Cities are increasingly embracing collaboration with other cities and the technology vendor ecosystem to help drive innovation, it added.
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Surveys regularly show that diverse teams lead to better decision making. Responding to the complexity and number of decisions that cities have to make, diverse teams use collaborative initiatives to engage wider stakeholder audiences and help ensure that decisions minimise the risk of failure.
“Governments and private partners should work together to ensure adequate infrastructure is laid, data sources are regulated and properly exposed to partners, and most importantly, problem statements are validated through public dialogue. Only then can the work of creative start-ups, service designers and engineers begin.” Sangwon Park – CEO, Favorite Medium
The report added that one example of collaboration comes from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a group of 10 member countries that encourages political, economic and social co-operation across the region.
“While the individual ASEAN member states may not be as large as India or China, combined they have a population of over 630 million people and represent the sixth largest economy in the world.
In 2018, they launched the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN), which brings together 26 pilot cities working towards the common goal of smart and sustainable urban development. The initiative’s primary goal is to improve the lives of its citizens using technology.
This platform provides guidelines for smart city governance and strategies at a regional level, and can also be implemented at the city level. Best practice sharing will allow the cities in the network to set up their initiatives efficiently, share learnings, and identify new and innovative use cases. This in turn will deliver a higher quality of life for citizens, a competitive economy and a sustainable environment.”
It added that another example of collaboration is the Global Organisation of Smart Cities (GO SMART) led by Taipei City.
“It is a global network of smart cities working to accelerate sustainable city development by building a city-centred online platform for sharing information and resources. More importantly, the network encourages international co-operation between cities in developing inter-city proof of concept projects.
This collaborative initiative also benefits technology vendors – from multinational companies to startups – that support smart city programmes, by showcasing the solutions they have already delivered, exposing the company and its solutions to a much wider audience.”
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Whether you are looking for a new commercial loan or for a refinancing package for your commercial properties, our brokers can help you get everything right from calculating mortgage repayment, comparing interest rates, all through to securing the best commercial loans which fits your profile. And the good thing is that all our services are free of charge. So it is all worth it to secure the best commercial loans through us.
You may contact us today for advice on a new home or refinancing advice, or for Personal Finance advice.
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