Designing smarter cities for the future

By THOMAS HUKAHU
THE best cities of the future will be smart cities.
The best towns, or urban settings, of the future will be designed by smart authorities.
Take some time to think about this.
The pandemic is spreading easily where cities or towns are not properly planned and systems are not monitored and not functioning.
The pandemic is changing a lot of things, including forcing businesses to scale down operations and universities in the western world are moving most of their courses online.
Many employees are also doing most of their work remotely, meaning they do not go to the office but work from home.
Some business, however, are thriving because the model they are utilising allows for remote sales where clients do not need to physically visit their shop to access services.
Governments and state authorities which are forward-looking, or futuristic in their plans, will start working on better designing their towns, cities and provinces.
Even before the pandemic, these views have been discussed by experts.
Most liveable to smarter cities
In June this year, I shared something here on Weekender about why I think Adelaide, in South Australia, was voted the third most liveable city in the world, and the most liveable in Down Under.
Having lived here for two years as an international student, I can understand why this city has been ranked as such when I compared it to other cities and towns in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, towns or cities that I have been to.
I mentioned that the services here, like electricity and public transport facilities, are well-organised and the design of the city itself, with its parklands make it enviable.
In these pandemic days, South Australia as a state in Australia has successfully managed Covid-19.
Except for the authorities urging people to wear masks while on public transport and in public spaces, people here in South Australia are moving freely about their lives.
That is not the case over in New South Wales or Victoria where lockdowns are more common.
Engineers, architects and municipal planners of the future, in the world or PNG, can learn from such a city and better plan the next town or city, or upgrade the one they have.
Bubble concept and thoughts about future towns and cities
The term “bubble” has been used more frequently now than before due to the pandemic.
People talk about being in a safe bubble, if there are no pandemic threats where they are.
It is as if they are in a space that is protected from other unsafe places and people.
As I was doing a research paper on the pandemic and how information was shared with people, this concept of better towns and cities came to mind.
Other thoughts came from talking to people here in Adelaide, or other international students.
And if authorities and MPs in charge want to better design a new township, or upgrade their capital, they have to think about some of these points.
Firstly, the movement of people must be restricted.
I took note of what Deputy National Pandemic Controller Daoni Esorom said in October when the National Capital District Governor was undecided about ordering a lockdown in the capital city.
Esorom said the most important thing was to stop the transmission.
“We need to cut the transmission,” he said. “As long as you have people moving … the virus will continue to spread.”
The smart towns of the future will be those that stop people moving about, or at least not moving from one town or province to another.
Secondly, to prevent the movement of people, there must be systems put in place, including new laws and policies to restrict the movement of people.
Those laws and policies will help keep a bubble safer for a longer period, and hopefully until a threat has ended.
Many people have talked about the Vagrancy Act in PNG and how it has to be taken seriously with the ongoing urban sprawl.
Many want that act implemented to stop people from moving in droves from one place to another, mainly from villages and smaller towns to bigger cities.
Thirdly, basic services like water and electricity must be properly planned for a smart city or town.
New basic service resources, like water reservoirs and renewable energy sources, must be developed to sustain the population that will be living in the new bubble or smarter town.
It is sad to see many residents of the cities of PNG complaining about blackouts too often.
With so many renewable energy sources in our country, why do we still experience frequent blackouts?
Fourthly, the population must learn to follow the common rules and regulations.
It has been reported in the news that people in some centres in PNG continued with their normal business and even never bothered to wear masks when there was the threat with the Delta variant.
I spoke with my landlord couple a few weeks back about how Adelaide has done well in that regard, and the husband said: “Here in Adelaide, generally, we are compliant.”
Meaning, here they follow rules and regulations.
It was just one sentence but it says a lot.
If any city or town is going to be smart and stand out in the future, the people must learn to follow the simple rules and regulations.
In November, I spoke with a dentistry student from Singapore and I asked him how Singapore was going.
He said there were some new cases of Covid-19.
But then, knowing Singapore as a main transit point for ships and planes travelling in the region, I thought that was not surprising.
Moreover, I knew that they were handling the pandemic fairly well because they are generally strict and ensure people are following the rules to protect themselves and others in these pandemic days. (In Singapore, spitting in public is illegal and someone found guilty can pay up to $1,000 for doing that. That is how strict they are.)
Fifthly, future smart towns and cities must be kept smaller.
As I see it, that would be easy for the authorities to manage. Adelaide, as a city, is smaller compared to others in Australia, and that may be the reason why the 1.4 million people who live there are more manageable than in Sydney or Melbourne.
Sixthly, the telecommunications infrastructure must be upgraded and the internet service providers must be closely monitored so that their services are easily accessible and affordable.
If employees and students in schools are going to work remotely more now than ever in these pandemic days, the communications infrastructure must be upgraded.
The state authorities must upgrade their own facilities to ensure people are connected, and stay connected, so that they can get the latest news on any health threats, or do business online.
Now, let us see what some experts said about smart cities long before covid-19 appeared on the world stage.
Experts discuss aspects of future cities
A lot of experts, including engineers, architects and municipal planners have discussed the smart or future city concept for years before covid-19 appeared.
I will discuss some startling points from a paper that Thomas L Saaty and Pierfranceso De Paola wrote back in 2017.
It was titled “Rethinking design and urban planning for cities of the future”.
There are certain interesting concepts that they discussed which were not mentioned in the section above.
The experts discussed three types of cities of the future – the sustainable city, smart city and compact city.
Many popular cities in the world are already incorporating concepts related to those three types mentioned.
Firstly, the sustainable city is “a city designed with consideration of environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimisation of required inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution (carbon dioxide and methane) and water pollution”.
The scholars also stated that in the 1990s a researcher made a list of principles for sustainable urbanisation, which we can take as traits of a sustainable city. The paper said, among other things, a sustainable city:

•   Is a garden city that integrates town and country,
• Is designed with nature,
• Makes no waste, seeks biodiversity, relies on the sun, and
•   Is comprised of green infrastructure.

Secondly, Saaty and De Paolo said that a smart city aims to deploy advanced technology solutions, synergistically interconnected for different infrastructures … (related to) services, business, transport, communication, water and energy.
Thirdly, a compact city would be an economical city to build and maintain, with many green spaces like public parks or private gardens.
The travel time from home to schools or workplaces would be very short, and children or working people can choose to either walk, cycle or take public transport.
(Notice that walking or cycling will not use fossil fuel, which emits greenhouse gases. And, a public transport that runs on electricity also does not emit bad gases.)
The two researchers had discussed a lot, but I will leave that for another time.
Conclusion: Reviewing main ideas
While looking at the few points made by Saaty and De Paolo and comparing that to the thoughts I had earlier, I think you noticed that consideration of climate change, as in promoting eco-friendly concepts, was made poignantly by them.
Currently, king tides are destroying roads and other infrastructure of coastal towns of PNG. What will the local town planners do to mitigate such disastrous effects in the future?
We, in PNG, should also learn to stop using diesel generators and develop hydropower plants or solar farms.
When I come across this theme, I always remember my energy physics course at university decades ago, where we were taught that electricity was a very important resource in developing a country.
Moreover, renewable energy sources were aplenty in PNG, but the government and the responsible authorities have not been building enough infrastructure to harness them.
The other interesting concept that the researchers talked about, the compact city, is related to what I said about ensuring towns and cities are small and manageable.
A few weeks ago, while a group of Australia Awards Scholarship students were discussing concepts with facilitators from the University of Queensland, a student said she lived in Canberra and was fortunate to have her children going to a nearby school and not across the city.
In that sense, it was very convenient for her and her daily study routine.
Some cities and towns are planned in such a manner where schools are within walking distance of children.
Parents do not have to cross the city every day and pass through congested traffic to leave the children at school, and later pick them up in the afternoon.
Should that not be something that we in PNG should be planning for the future?
To make our cities and towns compact and manageable?
Or upgrade our smaller towns, like Kavieng, Manus, Buka and Vanimo, and ensure that they remain compact, and the public facilities and infrastructure are accessible and people stay connected.
That should be a guide for the MPs in charge and working closely with town planners or municipal engineers.

Victoria Square in Adelaide, South Australia, a most liveable city in the world.
But can it also become a smart city of the future?

• Next article: Designing your house of the future