Data, the lifeblood of every organisation, is key to the smooth functioning of a smart city.
But, as Kaveh Vessali, partner: digital services at PwC, points out, we have gone from not enough data to make meaningful decisions just a few years ago to so much data we don’t know how to utilise it all to generate deep insights.
“The challenges is how to the volume and velocity of data coming our way into insights that allow us to improve things and make our lives better.”
His proposed solution is to put in place a positive feedback loop, or virtuous cycle. “The more we can analyse daa to create insights, the better we can create better experiences,” he says. “And the more experiences improve quality of life, the more people will be interactive, thus generating more data and creating more insights.”
The only stumbling block to doing this is not the technology – that is all available – but rather with human mindsets and behaviour.
“We need to create a lifecycle so we can move to an evidence-based policy-making environment.”
This involved better describing and visualising so we can understand what is happening; from there we can build models; then use those to predict future behavious.
“With that in place, we can simulate the real world in the virtual world, with scenario planning allowing us to do a better job of planning ahead,” Vessali says. “With this, and with better date, we can help to manage not just the information but our lives and out cities – and their sustainability – better.”
Vessali is a proponent of generative design, a framework that brings together the best aspects of computation ability and human creativity.
“You start with a rule-based framework for the design of a neighbourhood or city. Then you add the measurable goals such as design guidelines or economic targets.
“From there the machines can start to generate – not simply validate – designs which are fed back into the loop where humans pick them up again. In this way plans can evolve and develop over time.”
Importanlty, this method of design allows for the generation of hundreds or even thousands of additional design options that meet the measurable goals. Humans can curate and use these to develop new options.
“And, by building flexibility into these designs, planners can future-proof policy and urban development decisions,” Vessali adds.
The underlying platforms that make generative design a reality include data, analytics, digital twins and simulations.
The metaverse is also rapidly becoming an important tool in urban design, Vessali says. “We like to mention the metsverse and digital twins in the same breath. In both cases we are talking about a digital virtual representation of a real world set of interactions or spaces.
“These spaces can be physical assets as per digital twins, and useful for the analyst or simulation policy-maker.
“The metaverse takes same underlying representation and focuses on the human interaction and commerce, raising awareness, learning from one another, and gathering data.
“If we bring these two notions together we find we can run before, during and after simulations, with real activity going on in real cities. We can study what may happen when people interact with thoss spaces, and gather realtime data from both worlds.”
Vessali explains that these tools can help to identify which are the best places to invest, the things cities should be investing in, and to orient people with changes about to be made, exploring and learning from them in realtime.”