Whether or not The Line, a zero-carbon, hyper-connected metropolis in a 170km straight line on the Neom growth in Saudi Arabia, will obtain its goals of reimagining the way forward for city dwelling stays to be seen however its daring ambition must be admired. A metropolis with no automobiles and no streets would have been merely unimaginable a number of years in the past and The Line stands as an emblem of how far the sensible metropolis motion has progressed.
Little marvel, then, that it proved to be considered one of our most-read tales of 2021, which was additionally the yr wherein SmartCitiesWorld celebrated its five-year anniversary. With Seoul saying that it intends to develop a metaverse platform to ship public companies in 2022 and large issues predicted for applied sciences like digital twin and sensible site visitors platforms, we are able to look ahead to a lot extra invention from cities all through 2022 and we’ll be right here to cowl it.
Earlier than we prepare to satisfy the long run although, here’s a look again on the preferred tales on SmartCitiesWorld in 2021.
1. Bloomberg names 50 finalist cities for 2021 International Mayors’ Problem
The problem was established as a worldwide innovation competitors that encourages and spreads cities’ most promising concepts. In June, 50 cities from 29 nations throughout six continents had been chosen after mayors from 631 cities in 99 international locations submitted their most promising concepts for consideration. This was practically double the variety of cities that utilized in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ earlier Mayors’ Problem, held within the US in 2018. Finalists had been elevated based mostly on 4 standards: imaginative and prescient, potential for affect, feasibility, and transferability. Bloomberg stated the concepts present a robust snapshot of the innovation priorities of the world’s cities.
2. Saudi Arabia unveils its imaginative and prescient for a metropolis with out automobiles and streets
The $5bn futuristic megacity with out automobiles and streets situated close to the Crimson Sea attracted large consideration from our readers when introduced in January. The Line is a zero-carbon, hyper-connected metropolis in a 170km straight line on the Neom growth that goals to “reimagine and revitalise the way forward for city dwelling”. The city growth has been designed round individuals and nature. Walkability will outline life within the metropolis with all important day by day companies, reminiscent of faculties, medical clinics, leisure amenities, in addition to inexperienced areas inside a five-minute stroll. Extremely-high-speed transit and autonomous mobility options will make journey simpler between the communities and provides residents the chance to reclaim time to spend on well being and wellbeing. It’s anticipated no journey will probably be longer than 20 minutes.
3. Bogotá stays most congested metropolis on the planet
In March, the 2020 Inrix International Site visitors Scorecard reveals Bogotá, Colombia, and Bucharest, Romania, high the listing of probably the most congested cities on the planet with drivers shedding 133 hours and 134 hours a yr respectively. The 2020 International Site visitors Scorecard from transportation analytics and related automobile companies supplier, Inrix, ranked congestion and mobility traits all through the pandemic throughout greater than 1,000 cities in 50 international locations. With the coronavirus disaster reshaping on a regular basis lives most employers had been compelled to introduce do business from home insurance policies, whereas governments all over the world imposed, lifted and re-imposed lockdowns to assist restrict the virus’ unfold. Unsurprisingly, these insurance policies resulted in giant decreases in journey throughout all modes, the likes of that are unprecedented all through the whole interval vehicular, rail and air journey knowledge has been collected.
