The reason for the existence of technology can be said as the effort to solve the problems of the society and the person. With the advent of new technologies, this is turning into collaborative problem solving. Today, Internet of Things, Industrial Internet, smart phones, smart measuring devices, sensors and RFID tags can be counted as the technological parts of the collaborative solution search. With the expansions defined by new technologies - no doubt, while new problems emerge - new solutions and ways will come to the fore. Only an obstacle like "the cause of extinction of dinosaurs" can prevent this increasingly complex world and this multi-actor trend. The use of information, communication and Internet technologies (ICT) is rapidly changing living and working environments; We will see new stages of this transformation that we have not witnessed until now. This stage we have reached points to a re-examination of the interaction between human, life, increasingly lost nature, the city as a historical choice, and technology that has developed beyond our control as individuals.
Could we be at a completely different point with a different technological configuration? Was it possible to have a life in which the air and water were cleaner and the carbon and sulfur-based fog did not cover urban settlements like a heavy blanket? Could we produce a cleaner and healthier life with renewable energy sources instead of expensive and polluting fossil fuels? Is this option still feasible? Does the healthy life expectancy express an emotional longing from pre-industrial times? Is there still a possibility that everything could be different?
The result of many social, economic and technological indicators is that a pre-industrial age is not possible in this "normal course". We are moving towards the era of digital technologies, where cities, especially cities, are managed and controlled by large information-communication systems. Although we are still experiencing the early period of the great transformation, we have begun to see the traces of this transformation in some cities and living spaces of the world. These settlements are taking steps towards being data-based smart and communicative; For this purpose, they make use of new and advanced technologies. Infrastructure, traffic, energy, hygiene, access to resources, poverty and so on. When we compare it with 'our cities' and current urban management performance, a heartbreaking appearance emerges.
He made his choice of history and the future that we could foresee, in favor of cities. It is becoming increasingly clear that the new settlement model will be the smart city. In the richness and complexity of these other technologies, it is not easy to define a smart city or to describe a settlement as a smart city. Smart city does not mean settlement equipped with information-communication technologies in some areas and functions. Supporting some spaces, functions and interests of the local environment with technology does not make it a smart city. A settlement; human and social capital, transportation etc. It can be named as "smart city" if the investments made in traditional functions such as such as, and in the modern information-communication infrastructure ensure sustainable economic development there. In other words, a settlement does not become a smart city with cosmetic appearance improvements that do not serve economic sustainability. Smart city; Intelligent management of natural resources creates the basis for high-quality life for citizens by enabling citizens to participate in decisions.
Despite the attempts to define it above, the smart city is not a static concept. Depending on the nature of new technological developments, it is open to change like many concepts and institutions. For this reason, there is no single definition for the smart city, and there is no final destination for the city in terms of development. For this reason, it would be appropriate to grasp the smart city as a process of continuous improvement rather than a goal to be reached - more livable, flexible, having the potential to solve problems and overcome difficulties, and react quickly and healthily to change ...
City conceptually means agglomeration, concentration and integration. In addition to people, many vital functions, actors and objects gather in the city to form complex relationships. Smart city, on the other hand, expresses the post-technological end of this phenomenon. The multidimensional integration of human intelligence, collaborative intelligence and artificial intelligence will determine the progress of the new urban phenomenon. The mind of the new city; It is formed as a result of the integration of digital communication networks, embedded intelligence spread throughout the settlement, electronic sensors and tags, and software. As a result of this integration, the city communicates, thinks, feels, carries out cognitive actions. To summarize; While the city improves its communication and artificial intelligence features with new technologies, it also promotes to the "smart city" level.
The expectation that the city is equipped with new technologies is to benefit more effectively and efficiently from the urban infrastructure consisting of spaces, roads, artifacts, energy lines and the like. Communication skills developed with artificial intelligence, data collection and processing services will create a healthier and more solid ground for life in the city in terms of economic, social and cultural aspects.
Advances in cloud computing technology and its use in urban services create a truly valuable urban future design prospect. A connected city via the cloud creates an opportunity for collaborative use of data from sensors. Thus, individuals and organizations using sensors in their systems can store data from them in the cloud; By enabling application developers to connect to these repositories, they can enable them to create new functions and services. These new applications can be produced on urban issues such as population movements, traffic, security, weather, transportation, air and water pollution, noise and parking.
Behind the fact that we started to talk more about new applications and services is the price drop in technology products. The rapid price decline in information and communication technology products led to the spread of the Internet and the diversification and proliferation of big data and cloud computing applications. One of the consequences of this situation will be the widespread use of hardware and software applications related to sensors. In this context, integrated management applications related to solar energy; smart applications in tap water, wastewater and energy transmission networks; Automatic toll labels in public transportation services will make it easier to access real-time route data. New personal technological products will be developed for individuals as the data usage application options in the workplace increase. We will witness the proliferation and diversification of devices managed by voice or touch in urban spaces.
One of the common features of new technological products is that they generate data. This data generation on an urban scale means that new functions, services and applications will be created. With the new applications developed using these data, it will make life easier in the city and transform the city into a giant computer that is focused on local service.
We use many identification and authorization documents while living in the city. Cards showing our population or membership record; water, electricity, gas, etc. subscription cards, driver's license, passport, credit cards issued by banks, etc. We have to carry a large number of identity documents such as. Life in the smart city will reduce this to a smaller number (for example, single) electronic cards, which we will call "smart cards". Access to urban services will be easier thanks to the smart card. Undoubtedly; With the smart city, we will witness many data-based innovations.
In the era of electronic communication and the Internet, there were mail (mail). With the advent of the Internet, the traditional letter was replaced by electronic mail (for short, e-mail, e-mail). Here was the perception that the letter evolved with the new technology, but still remained in the traditional letter form. With the speed and ease of electronic communication, the inboxes of email users were filled with many mails, including 'things' we were not interested in. Now, the e-mail system is a source of disinformation and pollution despite all the precautions that can be taken. A messaging system developed as a solution can turn into a source of pollution. In order to eliminate this pollution, the concept of "zero email" is now being discussed in informatics fields. Perhaps personal portals or other technological solutions will emerge as an alternative to email.
As in the "zero email" example summarized above, we should restructure some of our perceptions about cities around the concept of "zero". The first step of this is to reduce carbon emissions to zero and therefore to create a smart city centered on "zero emission" in terms of all kinds of pollution. For this purpose — although it may seem like a distant dream — the regulation of traffic in accordance with electric, self-driving vehicles is another positive example practice. Thus, in addition to zero hydrocarbon emission, targets such as "zero accident", "zero damage", "zero injury" and "zero death" also fall within the horizon of realization. Therefore, when we talk about the smart city equipped with technologies, the question we have in mind is how to make 'zero' the urban elements that are the source of pollution. One of the most important goals of the smart city vision should be "zero pollution" in all areas. When we consider the "smart city" and "zero pollution" approaches together; We can say that the new "green city" phenomenon has turned into a smart city concept with new technologies.
Thanks to new technologies based on artificial intelligence and communication, the products produced and used in the city will become smart. Smart and communicable products will be capable of detecting the negative situation, taking preventive measures if possible, reporting to the necessary places and applying the measures. Smart product concept; It concerns wide urban areas of use, from smart wearables to smart buildings. In this context, the actors in the smart city's markets will have several different roles. We can list many areas of interest and work, from design to production, from providing network connections to providing maintenance-repair services, where these roles will be implemented.
One of the most important elements of the smart city context is energy. With the implementation of the smart city vision, various industries together with the energy sector will produce more efficient and environmentally friendly solutions that use resources better. One of the solutions that attract attention in the field of energy will be smart energy networks called "Energy Internet". Micro networks and especially energy storage systems, which are closely related to electric vehicles, are new topics of the future, although they have not seen their widespread applications yet. The transfer of solar energy collected by satellites in space to the world as electricity is among his dreams for the future. All these developments will directly affect the rise of the smart city phenomenon.
Fossil fuels will continue to be replaced by environmentally sustainable wind, solar and geothermal energy sources. New examples of sharing will occur in the energy economy. With automatic climate control systems and recyclable materials, higher resource utilization efficiency and productivity will be achieved in urban settlements. Applications such as digital communication and virtual meetings and remote working from home will cause a change in the concept of workplace.
The Internet of Things and networks are at the center of the new technological age, which inevitably affects the city. We cannot speak of a new age without multi-level connectedness. Therefore, all smart city technologies need an uninterrupted, sustainable and reliable broadband network to be available. In the smart city, the existence of high-speed broadband networks and their sub-layers is inevitable for the functioning of urban functions such as roads, water networks, sewage and electricity distribution. With the existence of new information technologies and high-speed networks, we can count education, public security and public services among the institutions and functions that will transform in the city.
Thanks to high-speed connectivity, the interaction of urban citizens on social media platforms will increase and enrich. Computer games and video applications, of which we have not yet seen enough examples other than entertainment, will begin to become more serious competitors to television in the upcoming period. In the upcoming period, one of the most important parts of every business and business - perhaps the whole business - will be related to the Internet, which has high quality connectivity and speed features. To summarize; One of the leading technologies that are indispensable for the smart city is uninterrupted, sustainable, quality, safe and high-speed connectivity.
How to ensure urban connectivity stands as a question to be answered and a problem waiting to be solved in front of the future of the smart city. The widespread use of wireless networks will require new investments in this area. New access points and stations will need to be established. Even if these things do, it does not seem easy to overcome the excessive use and congested network traffic due to the widespread use of the Internet of Things. Perhaps new developments can be expected in the public-sourced license sale of lines and other sources that make up the broadband network.
One of the basic elements of the new technological age is wireless connectivity, primarily broadband. Despite the proliferation of connections with wireless technology, the wired connection type - fixed lines - continues to burden the network traffic. The reason for this is that wireless and mobile usage continues to need a fixed infrastructure. As mobile usage increases, more fixed infrastructure investments are needed. Mobile connection types do not support long distances yet; In order for the mobile signal to survive, it must reach the nearby access point (access points connected in succession). From this point on, signals are transported by high-capacity cable connections such as fiber. Although there are studies in the wireless connection to load more information on the carrier signal, wireless technologies are not yet sufficiently advanced. Currently, wired networks perform more securely to provide higher capacity than wireless ones.
The existence of the smart city is closely related to the existence of robust, secure and quality wireless networks that will provide mobility and ease of use. Also; With its fiber infrastructure with high capacity, security and reliability features, it should create a ground that will provide opportunities for businesses, health institutions, public institutions and services. Although we continue to experience the negativities of the electrical energy infrastructure experience, we have to express the necessity of this quality.
At this point, I should add the following note. The smart city is a vision and a design for the future in its purest form. For this reason, it firstly needs elected or appointed country and city administrators who will grasp this vision and can create and realize the future design. The city itself would not be smart either if its man and its ruler are not 'smart'.
As cities become denser in population and expand in area, they are gradually turning into larger consumption centers. Consumption means - despite all recycling efforts that continue to be inadequate - more waste is given to nature. Can technology find solutions to waste problems? For example, by using new technologies and using innovative design techniques, the discharge of wastewater, which is among the urban wastes, into rivers and water resources can be reduced. The main idea here is to get rid of the obsession that the measures to be taken in order not to pollute or destroy the nature are a 'cost' and should be perceived as such. A sustainable life will not be possible without learning to understand the investments to be made for nature as the reproduction of the future and as a new source of income.
The main idea in the protection and development of nature is the self-preservation instinct of nature. The precautions to be taken regarding nature should be appropriate to develop this instinct and to produce solutions within its natural normality. It is important to recycle wastewater to create a smart, natural infrastructure for the city. One of the measures developed in this regard is the permeable ground that can be used in roads and sidewalks for avenues and streets. Such coating techniques can be applied primarily and easily on parking lots, bicycle paths, pedestrian walkways.
The primary way of recovering rainfall is to ensure that water reaches the soil. This determination must be among the basic principles of street and street design. For this reason, the floors that do not provide permeability to the soil should not be preferred in the streets and streets; It is necessary to reduce the use of impermeable materials in the construction of streets, streets and pavements. Thus, the water that flows along the street and the street to the sewer and therefore to the rivers is prevented.
The street, street, pavement and open area design, which are one of the characteristics of the smart city, should be made in a way that prevents the discharge of waste water into the sewage and mixes with the soil in order to create a green infrastructure - taking into account the self-protection instinct of nature. For this purpose, rain gardens (backyards of houses, gardens surrounding apartments), plantings, wooded areas, systems that purify waste water naturally and transfer it to the soil can be used. Solutions for fruit, vegetable, flower or seedling production - which will increase urban naturalness - can be added to all of these applications. Such an understanding of landscaping will increase the awareness of urban citizens about the protection and development of nature.
There is a perception that developing technologies and industry cause more consumption, which pollutes and destroys nature more. Although there is some truth in this, it is the technology that will protect and develop nature. Technology will be the most valuable assistant of correct planning in order to implement protective and developer plans more effectively and efficiently. The important point is to aim to protect and develop nature, living life and living environment together with the developing cities. The investment made for the city, which aims to live in nature, is not a loss, but a gain.
A Few Words
Blending technology and sustainability; The reshaping of the urban community is important for the improvement of citizens' quality of life and for creating new potentials for higher efficiency. Broadband network connectivity, Internet of Things, big data, analytics and cloud computing technologies will be used to fulfill these expectations. The cities of the future are not only in terms of ergonomics and technological ease of use; it will also differ with its security and problem-solving performance. The smart city will be equipped with new energy sources, advanced waste utilization systems, and pollution prevention and removal applications. With smart city planning, it will be more resistant to natural disasters. As long as; Let's be able to plan and manage cities - not according to the likes of Arabesque or 'kitch', but with the vision of articulating technology and sustainability.
