The Impact of Science and Technology on Large Cities

The impact of science and technology on large cities is being so important that it is changing basic sectors of modern life, such as medicine, logistics or travel.

Throughout history, emerging technologies have driven major changes in the way cities and their societies have been planned and functioning.

The Impact of Science and Technology on Large Cities

In the nineteenth century, driven by new industrial processes, western cities moved from the structures of medieval cities to the model of the industrial city.

Throughout the world, the walls were demolished and informal settlements were cleared to give way to the new infrastructure of factories, railways for transportation and housing for newly arrived workers.

In the twentieth century, the arrival of the automobile demanded large-scale readjustments in urban design, systems and processes. This led to an era of central business districts, high-rise tower blocks, extensive suburbs and extensive ring roads and freeways.

Today we are again on the verge of a new urban transition. This transition is driven by the growing growth of innovations in information and communication technologies, encompassed by discourses and concepts such as the"Intelligent City"and the"Fourth Industrial Revolution".

These speeches promise to progress through science and technology-centric approaches to help solve many of the greatest challenges of urban society.

So far, the results of this approach are being extensively tested with the inclusion of new technologies in different areas of society.

Technological and scientific development in large cities

More often than not, technologies that have evolved at their peak pace can be seen in everyday life as tools for automating processes and enabling an easier life.

Artificial intelligence: Watson

Although controversial, the rule is quite simple: if there is a human being who can do it, there is an AI that can do it better.

IBM's Watson, for example, topped the best human contestant in the trivia show Jeopardy , And on a more serious note, is helping thousands of doctors today in research and diagnosis.

The achievements that are happening in neural network technologies in voice detection, image recognition and even art creation are pushing machines to rival and potentially surpass human capabilities.

In fact, almost every industry in the world is experiencing an exponential increase in artificial intelligence within its core processes: customer service, finance, transportation, toys, aviation, news and more, not to mention Siri, Cortana, Google Now and The increase of artificially intelligent personal assistance.

Help at the airport: Spencer

Standalone robots are intelligent machines that can perform tasks without human interference or assistance. Amsterdam has already released a robot at its airport that helps lost travelers find their doors.

The European Commission is collaborating financially in this project that has been denominated like futurist thanks to the technologies implemented, which surpass the abilities of the present robots.

Spencer is able to inspect crowds for clusters as well as reflect on the behavior of a specific group and examine their emotional expressions.

Also, Spencer also has enough agility to actively respond to unforeseen circumstances.

Drones for delivery to home: Prime Air From Amazon

Much of the actual work with Prime Air has occurred since the end of 2016. In fact, the first test flight did not occur until December, when a real package was delivered to a customer in Cambridge, England.

In January 2017, Amazon was granted authorization to experiment with wireless communication that seemed to have something to do with the control of its drone fleet.

This was followed by a Prime Air surprise cameo during one of Amazon's Super Bowl commercials the following month.

The realization of this project could stimulate the purchases and offer the individuals of the big cities the possibility to buy from home and receive their packages in less time.

Automobiles with automatic steering: Mercedes and Google top the list

A growing number of technology companies and car manufacturers, from Uber to Audi, seem intent on making auto-driving a reality.

Companies like Mercedes already have prototypes in this section, such is the case of the F015 project or the S500 Intelligent Drive model. Both show the Mercedes autoconduction technology.

On the other side is Google with a prototype called Waymo, which has no pedals or steering wheel, so driving is really automatic, driven only by software sensors.

The inclusion of these cars undoubtedly has a huge social impact in large cities by improving transportation, automating certain processes through the use of GPS and intelligent traffic lights, which at the same time allows a much lower car accident rate.

Improvements in the road: CEF traffic light

Designed as a remedy for visual disorder, modular CEF traffic lights simplify the design of the street lamp to facilitate the identification of signals.

Created as a conceptual design for the iF Design Awards of 2014, CEF semaphores can be assembled in a variety of combinations.

The modular design is cohesive, which allows any complement, such as video cameras or lights, to mix, resulting in less visual noise and a more pleasant aesthetic.

Intelligent lighting: Metronomis LED

Metronomis LED is the world's first street lighting series that offers a variety of ambient light effects to give projects a unique contextual or aesthetic touch. An innovative game of reflection, light and shadow.

There are four designs available, and the flexible, modular Metronomis LED comes with a range of poles and a wide variety of optics and effects that allow architects, urban planners and lighting designers to create a unified discrete lighting scheme that reflects the culture and History of their environment.

Self-sustaining power: Tesla powerwall

Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Elon Musk , And a group of other billionaires from the technology industry, formed the Advanced Energy Coalition to invest and support green energy innovation.

This revolution that caused a global impact established its base in 2015 with Musk introducing the Tesla Powerwall, a low-cost and high-efficiency storage battery that brings today's society towards the disconnection of major power grids, allowing for self-sustainability.

The application of Powerwall in developing countries will change life on the scale of millions of people.

The best part of this is that Musk extended the open source policy of the Tesla Powerwall so that any company in the world could produce a similar product or carry out this innovation.

References

  1. Teena Maddox. (August 1, 2016). Smart cities: 6 essential technologies. Jul 10, 2017, by TechRepublic Website: techrepublic.com
  2. Rani Nasr. (JANUARY 5, 2016). Ten Technology Trends That (Might) Change Our World In 2016. Jul 10, 2017, Entrepreneur Middle East Website: entrepreneur.com
  3. Juan Balarezo. (2014). Five technological advances that have changed cities. Jul 10, 2017, from Vanitatis / El Confidencial Website: vanitatis.elconfidencial.com
  4. Ed Oswald. (May 3, 2017). HERE'S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT AMAZON'S DRONE DELIVERY PROJECT, PRIME AIR. Jul 10, 2017, of Digital Trends Website: digitaltrends.com
  5. Douglas Macmillan; Rolfe Winkler (27 May 2014). «Google's Prototype for Autonomous Driving Has No Steering Wheel». The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on July 10, 2017.
  6. Jochem Vreeman. (April 4, 2016). Robot spencer accompanies first passengers at Schiphol airport. Jul 10, 2017, from Phys.org Website: phys.org
  7. Robert D. Atkinson. (nineteen ninety five). Technological Change and Cities. Cityscape, Vol. 3, 1-42. Jul 10, 2017, From HudUser.gov Database.
  8. Hiroaki Suzuki, Robert Cervero and Kanako Iuchi. (2013). Transforming Cities with Transit. Transit and Land-use Integration for Sustainable Urban Development. Washington, D.C.: Uniandes Editions.


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