Sustainable Smart Cities: Myth or Reality

Every city aspires to be a smart city empowered by better connectivity, ideas and technology. A sustainable smart city takes this discourse to the next level. Here mere intelligence is insufficient; instead, what is needed is an intelligent approach to devolve a method that encapsulates a diverse range of supply and conversion technologies. The wide-scale proliferation of the many technical challenges associated with this energy system is embedded in the process. With every step ahead there arises one new obstacle an offshoot, like the side-effect of a life-saving drug. Take the current example of hydroponics, a setup that eliminates the use of soil entirely to substitute it with other rich nutrients. While the technology itself has been lauded by researchers and commoners alike, the core issue for this kind of farming stems from the expenses incurred which can keep potential investors away.

A sustainable smart city is necessitated by the acknowledgment of the existence of indulgence and luxury at the cost of wastage of water, essential resources, electricity, and more. Should the abundance of water supply, clean air, and noise-free zones continue for the next generation, this generation has to first pave the way and reach the destination almost like Moses reaching the land of Canaan. That is the only way the next generation will be vested with the responsibility to maintain these resources.

In many ways, a sustainable smart city is an aggressive exercise in risk mitigation. The five key characteristics to allow a city to become sustainable include the increase in self-reliance for essentials, creation of smart power grids, the use of green hydrogen, minimizing private transport, and effective waste management.

Should one focus on self-reliance for essentials the MENA region has been struggling to increase its crop production for years until recently. When the war broke out in the most bizarre and unexpected form in Europe, it was noted by the National, that the UAE had not been struck as badly as one would have expected it. Instead, they were faring far better than other countries.

The Emirates' geo-economic strategy began in an unexpected manner where they chose to become a global player in the production and distribution of fertiliser – the basic key to food security responsible for the enormous crop yield increases of the 20th Century's green revolutions in Latin America and Asia. This means that the progress is deep-rooted. Earlier this year, the UAE concluded talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Israel, a global leader for agri-tech and desert farming. These interconnected sustainable communities are fulfilling the first criteria, self reliance.

The creation of power grids has meant that the UAE can now look at harnessing the abundance of solar power that the land is blessed with, conversion of waste to energy is another path to the destination.  Short-term interventions addressing the current energy crisis must be accompanied by a steadfast focus on mid and long-term goals of the energy transition. High fossil fuel prices, energy security concerns and the urgency of climate change underscore the pressing need to move faster to a clean energy system, says World Energy Transitions Outlook 2022. And this is true and ideal for swift energy transitions when there is governmental support and private investment.

Today, with the onset of a pandemic that seems to be appearing at intermittent intervals, and a climate crisis that seeks to wreck the world worse than COVID in the log term the governments are facing multiple challenges when it comes to energy security, economic recovery and affordability. There is hope that with a more accelerated transition the idea of sustainable smart cities can become a reality. However this is also a political choice especially for the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Agenda, because in them lies a moral responsibility to ensure that these agreements don’t end up becoming a mere paper tiger.

Solid economic investments that fall under the category of green investments can help curb uneconomic practices, existing risks and alleviate the threats of climate change. Augmentation of the right economic practices across the GCC will emanate from political will and private understanding of the effects of climate change. Renewables must scale-up massively across all sectors from 14% of total energy today to around 40% in 2030. Only then can real change be effected. A holistic global policy framework can bring the Middle East region together to facilitate the international flow of finance, capacity and technologies.

Green hydrogen is another key element for change in the GCC. Decarbonizing the planet is one of the goals that the Middle East has set around the net-zero goal circa 2050. To achieve this ambitious idea, decarbonising the production of an element like hydrogen, giving rise to green hydrogen, is one of the keys to sustainable smart living because it is currently responsible for more than 2% of total global CO2 emissions. Urban green spaces for sustainable cities, seek to solve a number of challenges at once. Cities can achieve pollution control, and public health, and can also have thriving biodiversity by adopting green infrastructure, which increases the sustainability value of these parks, greenways and trails, street trees and protected conservation areas are all examples of public green spaces. The specific focus on community gardens and urban farms can enable food security in the best possible way. Affordable gardening spaces and edible landscaping can be incorporated to ensure ornamental and functional uses of these plants whilst ensuring the larger purpose is served.

While efforts are made in multiple different spaces on a public level can be incorporated on a private individual level by minimising the use of private transport and restricting the excessively luxurious lifestyles of some to own multiple cars and bikes while damaging the environment completely. One of the best ways to reduce carbon emissions throughout the Middle East is to have citizens do away with all private vehicles except for older citizens and medically unfit patients. Walking and biking are great alternatives to encourage, and the establishment can easily work on building pedestrian bridges

Bike path networks, connected urban grids and shared micromobility. Israel was a pioneer in this department. Smart Cities need smarter people to run them. Mobilising people without causing significant environmental damage requires for a more general awareness that is imbibed in the minds of the young and old simultaneously. To pass the baton to the next generation we have to first train them.

This brings us to the final source of waste which is…. Waste itself. While the distribution of waste has been a significant challenge, the permanent disposal of wastes like plastic are taking a toll on planet earth. In a recent move Dubai decided that it wanted togo plastic free. While the tenability and workability of such a move is questionable given the multiple uses of plastic bags specifically, it is a step in the right direction and deserves to be lauded.

The conversion of waste into potential energy is an extremely important step forward in the ideation, creation, and development of a city that is sustainable in all senses of the term. It is extremely important to appreciate the fact that treated waste is of significant importance to the building of smart cities. Since I began with a reference of the dynamic nature of civilization, I end by referring to the civilisational health of ancient Harappa whose urban planners without the use of data, technology, and real-time knowledge transfers constructed the most viable drainage system for that period.

It is not just the destination but the process that matters. Aiming high is not enough. It must be backed up by ideation, innovation, effort, experience, and experimentation. It is in the civilizational experience that the progress  measured.

Without a defined structure, measured and measurable progress, long term and short term finite goals, and attractive investmentes the entire idea of sustainable smart cities will relegate to the background with a visible divide between already empowered cities like Dubai and tinier ones like in Syria.