Urban safety for the cities of the future
Urban systems are continuously evolving.
Technological evolution is the tool that can offer citizens sustainable services, which are essential to ensure global economic and social development.
The spread of broadband, supported by advanced technologies, is today more than ever a key factor in the development of the information society, integrating innovative services in different scenarios and application environments.
As discussed in the previous article, the need to evolve urban centers into smart cities, ecosystems in which services, businesses and inhabitants are connected, is now well known. What characterizes a smart city is its achievement of efficient and sustainable technological and digital objectives, in favor of a green environment.
In addition to the smart component, cities, today more than ever, also find themselves having to meet the problems of urban security, an issue that is taking on an ever-greater priority.
Smart safe city: a project for urban security
Smart cities are cities where every element is connected, and sustainable mobility and resources are optimized. Technology is the essential element for achieving sustainable goals and advances from a technological point of view.
A safe city, on the other hand, is a city whose primary objective is not technological development, but safety. In a safe city, technology and governance methodologies are the only tools used to achieve this goal.
Despite the different purposes of the two categories, the enabling technologies for a smart city can still become a useful tool for increasing security in the area, through remote control, advanced communications, and constant monitoring of any situation.
For this reason, we have moved towards the perspective in which smart cities around the world will become safe cities. The fusion of smart and safe cities is to be identified as cooperation between devices such as sensors, IoT applications, telecommunication networks and infrastructures, which will be the means to manage crisis situations, and to prevent catastrophic conditions. Effective risk management and, consequently, the crisis, has the benefit of protecting people, assets, infrastructures and ensuring the continuity of services.
New technologies, for example, help to manage emergency requests quickly and efficiently, not only to disseminate information to citizens, but also to detect any breakdowns or critical issues especially in relation to transport infrastructures, energy networks, health services and assistance.
Regarding the anti-crime security profile, safe cities can make use of increasingly intelligent technological solutions. To do this, efficient communication infrastructures and collaboration with public administrations are required so that prevention models are structured. Therefore, if, on the one hand, cities can benefit from new technological solutions, on the other hand, their use is limited by inefficient communication infrastructures.
Safe City technologies
Smart cities can therefore acquire the safety component from safe cities by using the technologies used to increase urban safety. There are solutions that are based on the Internet of Things and sensors to monitor various parameters, related for example to hydrogeological or seismic risk, and to communicate to operational centers distributed throughout the area.
The use of AI allows you to intervene in real time, while events happen. In addition to monitoring traffic, a smart camera can, for example, predict dangerous behavior, identifying vehicles that do not respect speed limits or travel in violation of the rules. The same technology can also recognize the faces of wanted criminals, report stealth or suspicious behavior, up to the identification of weapons or blunt objects.
The dissemination of information and the management of communications with citizens are also facilitated using smartphones and apps, through which it is possible to update citizens and operators on situations or give practical indications on the management of any crisis situations. The effective management of crisis situations allows citizens to live peacefully in an environment where people, assets and infrastructures are monitored and protected according to new paradigms.
To analyze data, signals and information, even for preventive purposes, we use Cloud computing, thanks to which a lot of data can be collected and stored. Drones or robots can also be used for territorial monitoring, research or checks, especially in areas that are difficult to reach.
Technology is a way to make our cities safer, but at the same time it exposes them to another kind of risk. Therefore, it is essential to invest in IT security as much as in privacy. Cyber security is one of the fields on which we are working a lot, trying to promote the security of every device connected to the network, especially in the public sphere.
The future of smart safe city
Data has never been as important as it is today. They are the resource that powers technology, information and communication systems globally and that are now revolutionizing public safety in smart cities.
Technologies offer the best way to interconnect systems and share information, allowing public offices to communicate with each other, with suppliers, other Public Institutions and with citizens.
The timely management of emergencies and the massive use of platforms provided under the Cloud will ensure the use of services without interruptions, optimizing resources and improving people’s quality of life.
