By Poon King Wang and Lim Wee Kiat

The phenomenal pace of techno-logical advances in the last twodecades and the many benefitsthey have brought about give cit-ies tremendous hope that technol-

ogy can make cities more productive, effi-cient, and liveable.

Hence, much of the focus on smart citiesso far has been about developing “smart”technologies and infrastructure to enhancethe business environment, improve munici-pal services, and raise citizen participationand engagement. The initiatives often focuson nurturing innovation eco-systems, devel-oping breakthrough technological solutions,and training the population, especially theyoung, in programming and STEM skills.

Other typical initiatives focus on reducingbarriers to doing business for companieslarge and small, and making life more con-venient for people. These include cuttingcommute time (eg harnessing urban data for“live” bus schedules), reducing regulatoryhassles (eg easy electronic filing of taxesover mobile devices), and improving supervi-sion (eg remote monitoring of the elderly athome). All these initiatives hold great prom-ise, creating many opportunities to transformcities, and to better people’s lives.

Developing human potentialin smart citiesOne thing is often missing in the discussionon smart cities: the enormous opportunity todevelop human potential. Smart city technol-ogies and infrastructure are not only capableof improving the convenience and comfort ofdaily lives, they can also help people developtheir potential. Indeed, people flock to citiesfor multiple reasons, but seldom because ofsnazzier technologies. They do so becausethese places hold the promise of a better life.Not having a strategy to help people move to-wards fulfilling their potential is thus a missedopportunity. That would be a pity becausesuch a strategy could very well be the great-est opportunity of all for a smart city.

Firstly, anyone can now access other cit-ies worldwide for expertise, advice, training,and support at a fraction of the cost andspeed of even five years ago. The tools, plat-forms, and processes that make this possi-ble have become more sophisticated, moreuser-friendly, and more affordable (evenfree) for anyone who is driven to use them. Itdoes not matter whether one is six or 60, eve-ryone can now “raise their game” faster andto higher standards, potentially even to glo-bal benchmarks.

Secondly, the ability to reach out to theworld means that it matters even less whe-ther one’s interest and aptitude belong to aniche. You name it, the world likely has it.From the fine arts to the physical sciences,sports to cyber-gaming, and hard skills tosoft, everyone now can choose where andwho can help them the most and how.

The limit is no longer the size of one’sniche, but the scale of one’s drive, disciplineand determination.

In fact, cultivating skills and interests is on-ly the beginning. Thanks to many of the tech-nologies and infrastructure that are now coreto smart city initiatives, the possibilities nowextend to markets, talent and production.The constraints of the past – technical skills,cost of technology, expertise, data, services,communication channels, and marketing net-works – have shrunk tremendously.

The world of opportunities expands rapid-ly. Just imagine what it could mean for peo-ple at different points in their lives.

Imagine the possibilities that are availablefor someone like Adithya Rajesh, asix-year-old boy who lives in Choa ChuKang. Adithya recently qualified for the Singa-pore Chess Federation National JuniorSquad by using the Internet to spar withchess players worldwide to improve hisskills. In the future, Adithya could:

Discover more about oneself. AsAdithya grows up into a teenager, the sen-sors in the city combined with the sensors onhim (through wearable technology) wouldgive him environment, cognitive and biologi-cal data.

He could analyse this data in the cloud us-ing an online service that simplifies data ana-lytics and presents it visually for easy inter-pretation. He could compare the results withavailable open data sets, discuss them withlike-minded teenagers here, and consult theopinions of experts in other cities.

He could then make decisions about howto become healthier, eat better, and to per-form optimally at play and in school.

Help others better. As a young adult,Adithya and his friends decide to start a re-gional community service project. They wantto help the sizeable elderly group who has dif-ficulty walking due to injuries and weakenedjoints.

They develop empathy for what this elder-ly group is experiencing in different cities byusing virtual reality and simulation technolo-gies to “walk in their shoes”, augmented withupdated video footage from consumerdrones-on-demand. They team up with volun-teers from the elderly group. Together, theypick up skills and ideas from nano-MassiveOpen Online Courses and open source de-sign databases.

Equipped with empathy, skills, and ideas,

they co-design flexible low-cost 3D-printedleg braces that can be worn like a piece ofclothing, that also have embedded sensorsthat detect problems early. With the help ofthis innovation, the elderly are no longer hin-dered from leading active lives.

Become Citizen-x. After working for sev-eral years, Adithya finally feels that he can af-ford to set aside more time for himself.

Should he continue learning disappearingtraditional hawker food recipes, like he hasbeen doing for the last three months whilecommuting on the autonomous public bus?Or should he develop one of the businessideas he has been exploring? Or should hedo more for society, as he relished doing sowith his elderly community project when hewas younger?

He decides to marry all three. After all, citi-zen-journalists, -photographers, -fashionis-tas, -artists, and -designers have becomethe norm, and some have been able to makea living from them. He chooses to be a citi-zen-hawker food scientist. With advancedfood analytics, science and equipment in-creasingly accessible and affordable, hecould uncover more of the scientific secretsof hawker food. He is hopeful this could be anew hobby, a new career, and a new way topreserve a tradition and culture that is lovedby so many in the city.

Several of these possibilities already existin their early forms, and are accessible topeople to build on them. However, many arenot tapping into them yet because of a gap inawareness, knowledge, and capacity.

They will need to if they want to seize thepotential opportunities. They will have to beimaginative and “mix and match” differenttechnologies, infrastructure, and resourcesto pursue the outcomes they desire.

This in turn suggests that cities need toconsider how people can be “smart cityready” and what is basic “smart city literacy”.These may be crucial to prepare and enablepeople to develop, or even realise, their po-tential. Four areas need to be addressed:

Skills: What skills must every smart cityresident, of any age, be equipped with?

Knowledge: How can cities ensure peo-ple have the knowledge and capacity to fullyparticipate in and benefit from smart city tech-nologies and infrastructure?

Process: How should people be part ofthe decision making process in selecting anddeploying technology? How can this processtake into account minority views and identifylikely challenges along the way?

Accessibility: How can the technologies,infrastructure, and services be designed tobe accessible and affordable, so that seg-ments of the city are not inadvertently disad-vantaged and excluded?

Finding the answers to these questionsmight very well present the greatest opportu-nity in smart city initiatives. Now that every-one has levels of access to a broader rangeof resources and powerful technologies thatwere unimaginable even just five years ago,cities have the opportunity to consider howthese can be integrated thoughtfully into theirsmart cities initiatives. If cities do this, theycan move people closer to realising their po-tential. That way, cities would not only createthe environment for people to live well in a

smart city, they would also enable them toflourish in one.

A smart city of little red dotsSingapore has embarked on its own smartcity initiative to build a Smart Nation. It has ar-ticulated a bold vision to make Singapore aneven better city in its next 50 years.

Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative buildson its success of using technology. It suc-cessfully plugged into global markets, pro-duction and networks, and became the littlered dot that could.

The strides made by technology sincethen have been staggering. The powerfultechnologies both cities and people have ac-cess to now multiply what cities can do, andindividuals can plug themselves into globalmarkets, production, and networks too.

We are all individually little red dots now.The test for Singapore’s Smart Nation initi-

ative 50 years from today will be if the smarttechnologies and infrastructure it invested inhas helped its people realise their potential,making the leap into little red dots that could.

Mr Poon and Dr Lim are

respectively Director and ResearchFellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre forInnovative Cities (LKY CIC), SingaporeUniversity of Technology and Design(SUTD); additional contributions fromDr Mohan Rajesh Elara, Dr Hyowon Lee,Gayathri Balasubramanian and AkshayRao (all from SUTD).

It’s about people, ultimately

“What is a city butthe people?”Shakespeare

Smart city technologies not only improve the convenience, comfort of daily lives, they also help people develop their potential

TOWARDS A SMART NATION

This is the second of a six-part seriesbrought to you by Hitachi, in collaborationwith the Lee Kuan Yew Centre forInnovative Cities (LKY CIC), SUTD.The next part of this series, Smart andSustainable, will be published onSept 8, 2015.

“The passion of thepeople of Singapore isan under-utilisedresource.”Peter Schwartz, Futurist and co-founder ofGlobal Business Network

“CAN WE MAKE BIG CITIESFEEL NOT SO BIG?”As cities get bigger, they get harder to manage. That’s why we’ve developed new information technologies that collect and analyse Big Data on so many things that touch people’s lives. For instance, if you know how many cars are on the road at rush hour or how much electricity and water are being used at any given time, you can make better decisions. And the more you know, the easier it is to plan a tomorrow where cities feel like home no matter how big they get. Hitachi Social Innovation.

social-innovation.hitachi.com

BT STRIP AD (SINGAPORE) 5/8 IT

Scenario 3Become Citizen-x

• Harnessing analytics and low cost sensors to become a great citizen-hawker food scientist

• Connecting Adithya with fellow food enthusiasts and hawker masters

• Examples of technologies: sensor probes and analysers that help re-create our favourite hawker foods

Scenario 2Help others better

• Combining simulation technologies, virtual reality and open source designs to develop empathy and urban solutions for the elderly

• Connecting Adithya with the elderly and designers

• Examples of technologies: virtual reality devices combined with clothes embedded with sensors that simulate the visual, sensory, and physical experiences

How smart cities can empower people+10 yrs + 20 yrs + 30 yrs

BT Graphics: Zack Go & Simon Ang

Scenario 1Discover more about oneself

• Combining urban sensors with personal sensors

• Connecting Adithya with peers and experts

• Examples of personal sensors: wearable sensors on shoes, glasses, watches, clothes, etc

Adithya: Projected scenariosas statedin the story

The Business Times | Tuesday, August 4, 2015 | 11