"Urban Futurism" Living Cities of Artificial Intelligence

IBM's vision is to have a city's applications to talk to one another so that the city can be better managed. For example, buildings can be powered down or up as needed, and the cities can use their lighting and power systems more efficiently. The interconnected apps could also make cities safer.

"By connecting and providing visibility into disparate systems, cities and buildings can operate like living organisms, sensing and responding quickly to potential problems before they occur to protect citizens, save resources and reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions," reads the invitation to IBM's PULSE 2010 event.

(Link: Cities that Live)

Everything will be connected - buildings, cars, energy - everything. This is the tipping point. When we start building cities with technology in the infrastructure, it's beyond my imagination what that will enable. - Cisco's chief globalization officer, Wim Elfrink

And given the prediction that China will need to build 221 cities, with over 1 million people each, by 2025, it's not hard to imagine each successive iteration of these highly networked "instant cities" becoming more sophisticated and more self-aware, as companies like Cisco create more and more of them.

In just two decades, China will have a whopping 44 urban areas boasting populations larger than 4 million. India will have 11 such cities. Who will live there? In China, the answer is simple: migrants from rural areas. Growth in India's cities, by contrast, will mainly be organic. The country's population is also much younger than China's. A mere 16 percent of India's population will be over 55 in 20 years, while 28 percent of China's will be . . . It's the stuff of dreams for developers and construction companies. If current trends hold, China will need 40 billion square meters of combined residential and commercial floor space over the next 20 years — equivalent to adding one New York every two years. India, on the other hand, needs to start building between 700 million and 900 million square meters of combined residential and commercial space each year — equivalent to adding more than two Mumbais or one Chicago each year . . . Urban growth will come with a high price tag — a whopping $35-$40 trillion in China and $2.2 trillion in India over the coming two decades.

(LInk: China in 20 years)

It's inconceivable to me that cities of the developed world will not make use of the very extensive array of networked digital devices that will be present and available, whether it's to manage and optimize traffic flows, adjust building envelopes to present conditions, display current conditions of use, or, less happily, present tailored advertising just about anywhere.

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