1.1 7 - IoT for Smart Cities

• Instructor Name: Imad Jaweed
• Presentation By Uplatz
• Contact us: https://training.uplatz.com
• Email: info@uplatz.com
• Phone: +44 7836 212635
Learning outcomes:
• What is a smart city?

• Why do we need smart cities?
• What is the role of IoT in Smart
Cities?
• Smart city case study: Barcelona,
Spain
What is a smart city?
A smart city is a framework, predominantly
composed of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT), to develop, deploy, and promote
sustainable development practices to address
growing urbanization challenges.
A big part of this ICT framework is essentially an
intelligent network of connected objects and
machines that transmit data using wireless
technology and the cloud.
Cloud-based IoT applications receive, analyse, and
manage data in real-time to help municipalities,
enterprises, and citizens make better decisions that
improve quality of life.
Citizens engage with smart city ecosystems in
various ways using smartphones and mobile
devices and connected cars and homes. Pairing
devices and data with a city’s physical
infrastructure and services can cut costs and
improve sustainability.
Communities can improve energy distribution,
streamline trash collection, decrease traffic
congestion, and even improve air quality with help
from the IoT.
For instance,
• Connected traffic lights receive data from
sensors and cars adjusting light cadence and
timing to respond to real-time traffic, reducing
road congestion.
• Connected cars can communicate with parking
meters and electric vehicle (EV)charging docks
and direct drivers to the nearest available spot.
• Smart garbage cans automatically send data to
waste management companies and schedule
pick-up as needed versus on a pre-planned
schedule.
• And citizens’ smartphone becomes their mobile
driver’s license and ID card with digital
credentials, which speeds and simplifies access
to the city and local government services.
Together, these smart city technologies are

optimizing infrastructure, mobility, public services,
and utilities.
Why do we need smart cities?
Urbanization is a non-ending phenomenon.
Today, 54% of people worldwide live in cities, a
proportion that’s expected to reach 66% by 2050.
Combined with the overall population growth,
urbanization will add another 2.5 billion people to
cities over the next three decades.
Environmental, social, and economic sustainability
is a must to keep pace with this rapid expansion
that is taxing our cities’ resources.
Why do we need smart cities?
One hundred ninety-three countries have agreed
upon the agenda of the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), in September 2015 at the United
Nations.
But we all know how centralized decisions and
actions can take time, and the clock is ticking.
The good news?
Citizens and local authorities are certainly more
agile to launch swift initiatives, and smart city
technology is paramount to success and meeting
these goals.
What is the role of IoT in Smart Cities?
In general, the term IoT (Internet of Things) refers
to the rapidly growing number of digital devices –
the quantity is now billions – these devices can
communicate and interact with others over the
network/internet worldwide and they can be
remotely monitored and controlled. The IoT
includes only smart sensors and other devices. On
the operational level of IoT, for example weather
data is collected. IoT offers new opportunities for
cities to use data to manage traffic, cut pollution,
make better use of infrastructure and keep citizens
safe and clean.
Secure wireless connectivity and IoT
technology are transforming traditional elements
of city life - like streetlights - into next-generation
intelligent lighting platforms with expanded
capabilities.
The scope includes integrating solar power and
connecting to a cloud-based central control system
that connects to other ecosystem assets.
These solutions shine far beyond simple lighting
needs.
• High-power embedded LEDs alert commuters
about traffic issues, provide severe weather
warnings, and provide heads up when
environmental like fires arise.
• Streetlights can also detect free parking spaces
and EV charging docks and alert drivers where
to find an open spot via a mobile app. Charging
might even be able from the lamppost itself in
some locations!
What makes smart cities successful?
In addition to people, dwellings, commerce, and

traditional urban infrastructure, there are four
essential elements necessary for thriving smart
cities:
• Pervasive wireless connectivity
• Open data
• Security you can trust in
• Flexible monetization schemes
Here are five components of the smart city and
their impact in the IoT era:
1. Smart Infrastructure
• Cities must create the conditions for continuous
development: digital technologies are becoming
increasingly important, urban infrastructures
and buildings must be planned more efficiently
and sustainably.
• CO2 emissions should be kept as low as possible
for example investing in electric cars and self-
propelled vehicles.
1. Smart Infrastructure
• Smart cities use intelligent technologies to

achieve an energy-efficient and environmentally
friendly infrastructure.
• Smart lighting should only give light when
someone actually walks past them like setting
brightness levels and tracking daily use to
reduce the need of electrical power
2. The City Air Management Tool (CyAM)
• Siemens has developed a complete, cloud-
based software-suite “The City Air
Management Tool”: Captures pollution data in
real time and forecasts emissions
• Forecasts up to 90% accuracy is possible to gain
the emissions for the next three to five days
• It is the prediction of air pollution with the
measurement of the effectiveness and the
technologies that are used which make the City
Air Management tool unique
2. The City Air Management Tool (CyAM)
• The prediction is based on an algorithm that
works with an artificial neural network
• CyAM is a cloud-based software suite with a
dashboard that displays real-time information
on the air quality detected by sensors across a
city and predicts values for the upcoming three
to five days
• Cities can choose from 17 measures to simulate
the next three to five days (effects of the air
quality for the upcoming three to five days)
3. Traffic Management
• Challenge for large smart cities is to optimize
traffic
• Los Angeles: As one of the busiest cities in the
world, the city has implemented an intelligent
transport solution to control the traffic flow
• Pavement integrated sensors send real-time
updates of traffic flow to a central traffic
management platform which analyses the data
and automatically adjusts traffic lights to the
traffic situation within seconds
• It uses historical data to predict where traffic can
go – everything without human involvement
4. Smart Parking
• Intelligent parking solutions identify when a
vehicle has left the parking area
• The sensors in the ground report via smartphone
the driver, where they can find a free parking
space
• Others use vehicle feedback to tell precisely
where the openings are and nudge waiting cars
towards the path of least resistance
• Smart Parking is reality today and does not
require complicated infrastructure and high
investment making them ideal for a mid-size
Smart City
5. Smart Waste Management
• Waste management solutions help to optimize
the efficiency of waste collection and to reduce
operational costs and better address the
environmental issues associated with an
inefficient waste collection.
• Waste container receives a level sensor; when a
certain threshold is reached, the management
platform of a truck driver receives a notification
on the smartphone. The message appears to
empty a full container, which avoids half empty
drains.
Smart city case study: Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona has been very active in terms of the
deployment of smart city initiatives over the last
few years.
One key element of the Spanish city’s smart city
plan is the so-called ‘Smart City Campus’ which has
the primary goal of transforming the city into an
experimentation and innovation laboratory, as well
as a cluster where companies, universities,
entrepreneurs and research centres can set up in
the spheres of information technologies, ecology
and urban development.
What makes Barcelona particularly interesting, is how it
has reinvented itself over the past 30 years. Following an
era of textile manufacturing and commerce, in 1980s the
stagnation and unemployment caught up with the city’s
industrial dream and its economy was near collapse.
Barcelona’s City Council then decided that the only way
to move forward was to transform city’s economy and
social profile and promote a new economy based on
knowledge industries, modern-city tourism, and quality
infrastructure for residents, investors, and visitors alike.
As a result, Technology became an essential tool to make
Barcelona more inclusive, productive, self-sufficient,
innovative, and community-oriented.
In 2010s Barcelona’s strategy and focus to become
a smart city started to take shape. City Council
started to view the modernization process as a way
to reinforce Barcelona’s smart city brand and
become a reference for all other cities seeking to
redirect their economies.
The Smart City Expo and World Congress, held for
the first time in 2011, helped to launch and
promote this policy.
In 2013, having realized the importance of explicit
smart-city strategy, the City Council started to work
on one, in order to become the first truly smart
city in Spain. In the process, they also formulated
this definition of a smart city: “a self-sufficient city
of productive neighbourhoods at human speed,
inside a hyper-connected zero emissions
metropolitan area“. Barcelona aimed at using new
technologies and infrastructure to foster economic
growth and guarantee a greater quality of life for
its citizens.
Technologies that Helped to Transform Barcelona:
Barcelona, as a smart city, has achieved a wide range
of benefits through investment in IoT for urban
systems. The high-tech improvements seen
throughout Barcelona offer a good example for
various other cities looking to improve their
technological infrastructure in similar ways. Some of
them are listed here:
Street light:
LED-based lighting system solution has helped
Barcelona to become more energy efficient and
reduces the heat produced by the old lamps thus
leading to cost savings for the city.
Street light:
One of the key smart city initiatives in Barcelona is
the control of lighting zones in the city. This
solution aims to tackle the problem of public street
lighting being used inefficiently in a way that is
harmful to the environment. The approach is two-
fold: first, street lamps are equipped with LED
technology, which needs much less energy than
usual light bulbs. Second, the lamps are equipped
with sensors to receive information on the
environment (temperature, humidity, pollution) as
well as noise and the presence of people.
Street light:
The lights communicate with a central unit in the
street which also manages other services such as
fiber-optic cabling to the home, Wi-Fi or electrical
vehicle recharging stations. The information is
then sent to a central control centre. At this control
centre it is possible to see all activities and services
taking place at a certain location, monitor them,
receive alerts and manage them from this single
point. Sensors can adjust lighting depending on the
time of day and the presence of people.
Waste Disposal:
The use of smart bins that use a vacuum and suck
the waste into underground storage helps
to reduce the smell of trash waiting to be
fetched and the noise pollution from collection
vehicles.
It also enables the city to detect the level of waste
that comes from different places and optimize the
collection of waste, which decreases both the
resources and time needed for this service.
Meanwhile, the incineration of waste is used
afterwards to produce energy for heating systems.
City Bike System:
After many years of public bicycle sharing it might
seem just another service, but back in the
day Barcelona was one of the first and largest
cities to implement the system. This initiative is
aimed at reducing the number of cars circulating in
the city. Despite occasional controversies, Bicing
can still be considered a success with its over
120,000 users.
Bus Transit System:
The bus transit system stands out for sustainable
mobility and decreasing emissions with the help of
hybrid buses. This system also has smart bus shelters
utilizing solar panels to provide energy for the screens
that show waiting times.
Fab Lab:
Barcelona was the first city in the world to have a public
network of fab labs, small-scale workshop offering
(personal) digital fabrication. The premise of this
enterprise was simple: “no smart city without smart
citizens”. Citizens play a key role in the development of
smart cities, therefore it is important that they can
participate in the changes at grassroots level.
Noise Sensors:
The residents of Barcelona’s Plaza de Sol, who had
complained about the night time noise for
decades, used low-cost and easy-to-use
sensors that can detect air pollution, noise levels,
humidity and temperature to detect and prove that
the noise levels were almost 100 decibels which
were beyond the recommendations of the
WHO. Armed with this information, the residents
went to the city council, pressing them to rethink
the use of the plaza.
Irrigation System:
Various sensors in the ground offer live data on
humidity, temperature, wind velocity, sunlight, and
atmospheric pressure. That means, for example,
that gardeners can decide what the plants need
based on that data and adapt their schedule to
avoid overwatering. It was estimated that the city
will earn back its initial investment in building the
first phase of the system in one year when they cut
water usage by about one quarter.
Barcelona has also introduced a smart parking
initiative. The introduction of wireless sensors at
parking places can ease city traffic by showing car
drivers where there are free parking spaces. The
information is sent to a data centre and made
available for smart phones sending real-time data
to users. The system guides the driver to the
nearest parking spot.

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• Instructor Name: Imad Jaweed

• What is a smart city?

Together, these smart city technologies are

In addition to people, dwellings, commerce, and

• Smart cities use intelligent technologies to

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