Smart Cities is solution to cope with the multiple challenges of urbanisation: Hamza Achour

DUBAI: Smart Cities is the main solution to cope with the multiple challenges of resource management and environment protection thrown by the rapid urbanisation, a leading expert has said.

"As the population gravitates toward urban areas, globally, we are bound to have higher air pollution, water and energy shortages, traffic congestions and issues like inadequate capacities for disposing of urban and industrial waste for long," said Hamza Achour, Marketing, Alliances & Sales Operations Manager of Smartworld - a digital smart service provider in the Middle East.

"Smart and intelligent cities are the way forward if we want to ensure superior connectivity, healthy and comfortable lifestyles for all and not be hit by scarcity of resources. Major initiatives are being taken to make cities smarter which will utilise new technology to attain their goals efficiently," Achour said.

Recently, India announced its plan to develop 100 smart cities. UK's Bristol announced 'Bristol is open' a multi- million pound experiment to create the smart city of the future. In Japan, the national government has selected 13 locations for its Eco-Model Cities (EMC) scheme, he said.

According to a United Nations report, urbanisation, combined with the overall growth of the world's population, could add another 2.5 billion people to urban populations by 2050, necessitating an efficient management of the global urban areas.

Experts worldwide point out there will be a need to cope with changes in lifestyles, work, study along with time and location constraints, he said.

"Through Smart Cities, we can expect to address these challenges. New technologies, for instance, can not only ensure optimal utilisation of available resources, these can provide new services regardless of time or place," Achour said.

While this mega advent of Smart Cities would bring in opportunities, the common aim would be to provide cost efficient smart services, he said.