Smart and Connected 2021: Where cities are headed post-Pandemic

Smart and Connected cities conjure visions where an algorithm plots daily drives to the store, school, or work—and not soon enough in an autonomous vehicle as one sips coffee and check emails.

Others see it as the seamless integration of urban digital technology populated with buzzwords like blockchain, AI, and Big Data.  

Still, many of us see Smart as an ecosystem blending infrastructure, software, and yes, massive amounts of data working its way across a sea of semiconductors—and that’s just in our car or SUV. 

Stepping Back

My first experience with the idea of the Smart City reaches back to the mid-2000s when I was fortunate to serve as an advisor to the New York City and the Seoul Gale International teams—the majority partner in the development of Incheon’s Songdo International District. 

Envisioned as a Green, high-technology city of the future—at the time it was one of the world’s and Korea's largest foreign real estate development projects. 

Built on reclaimed land and with partners like POSCO, Cisco, and United Technology, the forward-leaning project also showcased some of the first LEED-certified buildings in South Korea and Asia. 

At the core, Songdo IBD was designed to be a "ubiquitous city", a smart city with "ubiquitous" technology: computers built into the buildings and streets, while sensors gather information on traffic flow and energy use.  

I witnessed first-hand and wrote extensively on the project, too, with a book—Chemulpo to Songdo IBD: Korea’s International Gateway (2009), Songdo—the cover story in the August 2013 Korea magazine, and two articles in Forbes. 

I also hosted a 2013 BBC World Service visit to Songdo IBD, showing off its smart city capabilities—capped off by an interview with Cisco’s former Chief Global Strategist Wim Elfrink—an early adopter who popularized the term IoT—the Internet of Things.

Jump forward a few years, by the 2019 CES I oversaw Western media and PR, for Korea’s Hancom Group. An exhibit, Hancom’s Smart City dashboard was developed for the City of Seoul Mayor’s Office and later covered by media at the height of the Pandemic on CNET. It drew considerable global interest and attention. 

In particular with COVID, the city system was modified from tracking accidents, fires, and security issues, to providing Real-Time alerts on outbreaks and those testing Positive—allowing city officials to stay on top of the pandemic.

Jump Start 

Although COVID did pause many Smart City infrastructure and digital initiatives—much needed to support AV and mobility projects—I feel in 2020 other urgent issues surfaced. 

Fortunately, these issues can be addressed with Smart City technologies—such as concerns over electrification and the Grid, Climate and Carbon-neutral solutions, and digitalization of essential services.  

More so, too, as COVID has sparked a new emphasis on our surroundings and greater awareness of our health and safety.  

Finally, and as a huge positive are Korea’s Digital New Deal and President Biden’s recent infrastructure funding. These can jumpstart and fund technologies such as Ai for Smart Cities in transportation, the electrical grid, buildings, and city operations--critical for a Smart City. 

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