Artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial for the development of smart and sustainable cities. Hager has investigated how AI is being used to optimize traffic, improve service and contribute to climate action. It turns out that many cities are already investing in AI today to address future challenges and improve quality of life.

In a world that is largely digitalized, artificial intelligence is (AI) a legitimate answer to almost any question: How can energy consumption and production be managed better? With the help of artificial intelligence. How can traffic problems be solved conveniently? With the help of artificial intelligence. How can productivity in industry be optimized? With the help of artificial intelligence.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that AI is a central part of the transformation of cities into truly “smart cities.” AI-based digital applications are intended to help make growing cities more sustainable, resilient, and livable places.

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Cities in Change: Best to Be Smart

Smart cities are still seen as a digital vision of the future, but artificial intelligence has already entered our urban environments. The question is therefore no longer whether AI applications can change cities – but how much?

What is certain is that such applications are already being used in various areas around the world. For Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), cities are therefore becoming experimental halls where the possibilities of new forms of artificial intelligence and automated processes are explored.

We are therefore in the midst of the digital transformation of cities: The future is here and it artificial intelligence will be a part of these cities.

Towards a smart city

Comparing cities to living organisms is certainly not a new idea. But it illustrates the problem that many cities around the world face when they invest in a smart city concept: There is a lack of integrated strategies that capture the complex interactions in the city in a coherent way. In Roland Berger's 2019 "Smart City Strategy Index", this was still the case for 90 percent of the cities.

On the other hand, IMD's Smart City Index shows that "smart cities" are a big topic and that many cities are working to promote this. For example, businesses are benefiting from broadband internet and high-speed connections.

For residents, technology is less important as a direct factor. However, they benefit from the opportunities that digitalization and artificial intelligence open up: mobility, participation, sustainability, health, education and quality of life in general.

• In city traffic AI can help optimize traffic flows or design the best possible routes for public transport and other service providers. This results in fewer traffic jams, faster journeys and reduced environmentally harmful emissions.
• AI helps public authorities to improve customer service and to process requests more reliably. Many standard administrative processes can be automated, giving staff more time to provide personal support to citizens.
• The police can use AI to solve crimes faster. Extensive investigations, the search for hidden patterns and the like are simplified and accelerated significantly.
• In healthcare AI applications contribute to improving diagnoses. In pharmaceutical research, artificial intelligence supports the search for suitable active ingredients for certain treatments or the adaptation of medications for optimal therapy.
• Educational offers – everything from tutoring to educational content at universities can be customized with the help of AI. This creates tailored learning materials that enhance the learning experience.

Smarter use of city data
What role does artificial intelligence play in the development of smart cities? According to research from ESI ThoughtLab, it plays a fairly large role:

• 66 percent of 167 cities surveyed in 80 countries stated that they want to invest more in AI in the future.
• 80 percent of the cities surveyed plan to do so within three years.

Artificial intelligence in the development of smart cities is already being used. Digital assistants are used in two-thirds of cities and the share of machine learning is just over 70 percent.

The reason is simple: To be able to use real-time information from different data sources in a predictable way and translate it into sustainable solutions for people, AI and data analytics are the success factors.

More vibrant cities – with AI

Mobility, education, health, environment, administration, infrastructure, economy: A city fulfills many functions for an increasing number of people. In addition, there are the challenges of climate change. Making cities more sustainable, resource-efficient and livable for the future is therefore a huge task. Artificial intelligence helps develop intelligent solutions based on data from diverse urban life. International examples show how this can look in practice.

Helsingborg: Better roads

IN Helsingborg Artificial intelligence is being used in an innovative way in waste management. For a few years now, AI cameras have been installed behind the windshield of garbage trucks. By integrating AI technology into daily garbage collection, the mapping of the city's road network has been reduced from almost a year to just two weeks.

From an economic perspective, this has led to significant savings, with a cost reduction of almost 80 percent. The system cost around SEK 700,000 to procure, compared to traditional road mapping methods that only analyze the condition of the road surface and cost between SEK 1.5 and 3 million.

Cascais: More efficiency

IN Cascais in Portugal technology-based services are part of everyday life. What the city lacked was a complete overview of the most important areas of life, such as health, education, energy or public infrastructure.

This has changed with the help of a central digital platform. “C2” has, among other things, contributed to making the waste system more efficient. Based on real-time traffic data and road conditions, the system adjusts the vehicles’ routes.

This means increased sustainability: 180,000 km of saved travel, 350 tons less CO2 and a cost reduction of approximately SEK 7 million – per year.

Vienna: All data everywhere

The Austrian capital Vienna uses the European Commission's Context Broker for its digital city platform. It is designed to provide users with simple, real-time visual information on almost all areas of daily life.

Mobility, environmental monitoring and improved energy efficiency are some of the platform's areas of responsibility. It provides visualized information for all areas and frees users from the task of laboriously searching through the volumes of collected data for the desired details.

This way, all data is available without losing the overview.

Innovative pedestrian models with AI

Large-scale events are an expression of diversity and life in cities. But from a logistical and security perspective, they also present a challenge that should not be underestimated.

That's why we're working on AI-powered solutions that can be used to record crowd movements in real time, so that we can control them if necessary. For example, it's a good way to save guests long waiting times at large events such as music concerts, festivals or sporting events.

Essentially, the combination of video data and crowd intelligence analysis offers benefits wherever many people gather. Experts from Forschungszentrum Jülich and the University of Wuppertal tested such technology at the “Fête des Lumières” in Lyon in 2022. In the US, Quantum Corporation and WaitTime are working on solutions for “live crowd intelligence.”

More resilience to climate change with AI

Artificial intelligence also plays an important role in the design of climate-resilient cities. For example, AI-supported systems analyze environmental data (temperatures, air quality, CO2 emissions, etc.). Because of this, measures can be taken to minimize the cities' contribution to climate change. This applies in particular by connecting this data to intelligent solutions for traffic management, energy supply and many other things that have a direct impact on the climate and the environment.

At the same time, such systems help to take faster and better precautionary measures against the consequences of climate change. In disaster risk management (DRM), AI supports early warning systems by monitoring weather trends, analyzing patterns, and detecting anomalies.

Artificial intelligence is a key factor for cities to be future-proof and livable, even under changing climate conditions. New solutions are being developed in many countries as part of pilot projects and comprehensive smart city strategies. Some of these are highly customized, while others can be transferred to other cities and scenarios. The different applications have the potential to improve quality of life and drive innovation and thus the economy. AI helps urban regions become resilient and future-proof.