How do smart city standards impact new construction?

  Posted by: electime      16th August 2019

Smart cities are coming, that much is obvious. The smart city market is expected to grow from $308 billion in 2018 to $717.2 billion by 2023, according to a recent MarketsandMarkets report. But what exactly does that mean?

What will smart cities change when it comes to construction and development? The concept of a “smart city” means that anything and everything is connected and communicating, from the skyscrapers and office parks to the roads and infrastructure.

It sounds great, but how do we effectively make this happen?

Welcome to the New Era of Engineering

Like most developments, a smart city isn’t defined by any one system or project, it’s the sum of its whole. It starts with smart buildings and radiates out to include transportation, amenities, infrastructure and any other foundational elements you might find in an urban environment. Even the inhabitants within a city work together and communicate more openly to make it “smart” in every sense of the word.

One thing to note is that conventional construction won’t change much, aside from a few interwoven modifications here and there — buildings may need to be planned out better to accommodate the smart functionality of surrounding structures, for example. Electrical engineering, on the other hand, will change significantly.

This is because a smart structure must be able to communicate with its surroundings. After all, that’s what makes it smart. Through a combination of IoT technologies and sensors, the building will collect data constantly and report that information to remote systems. It might be reporting internal climates and temperatures, power surges or failures experienced, occupancy levels and much more. All this information is fed into a core control system or AI, similar to the human body’s nervous system. The data is then used to make minor adjustments, ultimately to improve the efficiency and performance of the city as well as provide conveniences to the city’s inhabitants. Because all of that sounds vague, it makes sense to look closer at an example of the technology in action.

Smart City Tech In Action
Smart cities are already in development across the world, such as the U.S. which has seen five major cities overhauled to include connected systems. A great example is Panasonic’s partner project with the city of Denver, called Pena Station NEXT.

It’s a smart “site” or city within a city that will include some of the most innovative IoT solutions, promoting energy and resource self-sufficiency. It will also serve as a testing ground for new technologies, which may or may not be implemented throughout greater Denver. Things like Wi-Fi enabled smart lighting, electric vehicle charging stations, renewable energy systems, and more.

Pena Station is expected to be completed by 2026 and will help usher in a new era of smart city technologies, particularly for the city of Denver.
More recently, Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucestershire, England — which you may recognize as Hogwarts from the Harry Potter movies — was outfitted with a comprehensive solar array. The cost-effective and renewable energy system will revolutionize power consumption for the property. It also opens up the potential for smarter, more efficient energy management including smart control and monitoring systems.

This is one way in which smart cities are developed over time, starting with a single property like Gloucester Cathedral and then slowly expanding to include a wider area and more properties.

What Does This Mean for Construction?
As outlined above, these new technologies and systems will require pre-planning at a foundational level. Much like new buildings and structures need to tap into the city’s electrical grid and water supply, they will also need to tap into a comprehensive network that syncs up the entire area. Whether this means routing fiber optic and utility cables in new ways, or embedding smart technologies and sensors within the walls of these structures depends on the solutions adopted, but they are both distinct possibilities.

Consider a smart energy network that includes not just smart outlets and plugs, but a data collection and analytics system that can help optimize energy usage across the entire city. To make such a thing possible, everything must be connected. The electrical system for each building must include a network of outlets, controllers and sensors to manage the local supply. Then, it must also be connected to the greater power grid, one that is both smarter and more advanced.

All these synchronized and interwoven systems are going to require ingenious development solutions, alongside proper planning. They will also present many new opportunities, shifting the way that conventional projects are carried out. As such, electrical contractors, engineers and developers are going to have to expand their skill sets. They might learn to double as IT service installers or IoT tech experts, for example, or even work directly with LED smart lighting solutions and similar interior systems.

Simply put, the modern and more aware cities of tomorrow are going to change the way construction and engineering professionals approach their work. More specifically, all projects with have some form of connection to a greater network, be it through IoT-enabled energy systems or the use of data-driven operations and management.