Smart cities represent both an exciting leap forward for humanity and an important step in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  With the potential to reduce urban poverty, improve air quality, and increase access to clean energy, smart cities are a growing trend in sustainable urban development.

The advancement of technology is key to the creation of smart cities.  For example, new applications such as smart grids allow for efficient energy usage and can help reduce emissions. Other technologies such as digital water systems can help ensure safe drinking water for city residents while conserving resources. Furthermore, data-driven systems such as traffic management are being used to reduce congestion and optimise public transportation schedules. These advances all contribute to creating sustainable cities that are better equipped to face environmental challenges. 

By providing real-time data and information on public resources, digital technology is enabling citizens to make informed decisions about their urban environments and contribute to more efficient use of resources. Utilising existing infrastructure and investing in new technology solutions, smart cities can help achieve sustainable development goals such as zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, affordable housing, climate action, responsible consumption and production patterns, clean energy, and economic growth.

Smart city initiatives have already been implemented in many countries around the world, proving the feasibility of sustainable development in urban areas. Requiring continued commitment by governments and city leaders, investing in smart city projects is essential if we want a sustainable future for our planet.

Examples of Smart Cities & the Innovative Technologies Required:

As technology continues to advance, smart cities are becoming increasingly popular. Smart cities use various technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, cloud computing, and 5G networks, to improve services for citizens and businesses. 

Singapore

One famous example of a smart city is the country and city-state of Singapore. The city has been investing in innovative technology since its early days in order to create an urban environment that is both efficient and sustainable. The government has implemented numerous initiatives to make transportation quicker and cleaner by using GPS tracking systems for buses and taxis, introducing electric vehicles on its roads, creating underground highways for freight trucks, and providing bike lanes throughout the city. In addition to this, the government has created a range of digital services such as online healthcare and digital payment systems, to make life easier for the citizens. 

London

Another notable example is London, which has adopted a number of smart city initiatives in order to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. These include using sensors and cameras to monitor traffic flow in real-time, introducing electric buses and taxis, providing Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the city and offering an online platform where citizens can report problems or access important information. Ultimately, these initiatives have helped make London one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world. 

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is yet another example of a successful smart city. The Dutch capital has implemented numerous programs such as smart energy grids, water management systems, connected parking systems, automated waste collection and green transportation options, to make life easier for its citizens and businesses. This has resulted in a more efficient, sustainable and liveable city. 

These are just some of the famous examples of smart cities that have implemented innovative technologies to improve services and reduce environmental impact. Smart cities around the world continue to invest in new technologies as well as create digital platforms for citizens, in order to provide better access to services and ultimately enhance urban life.

Concluding thoughts…

The design and implementation of smart cities is a highly complex process.  It requires policymakers to draw upon evidence-based solutions to tackle a diverse range of pressing and long-term urban challenges such as climate change, poverty alleviation, energy efficiency and urban mobility. Both long-term sustainability goals and short-term objectives must be kept in mind. This means investing in infrastructure that is resilient and efficient, engaging citizens as partners in development, accessing reliable data sources to inform decision making, and leveraging technology for finding better solutions to existing challenges. Ultimately, by incorporating sustainable practices into urban planning from the start, smart cities can create an environment where people live safely and securely while reducing their environmental impact. 

Aside from Bee-Bots, there has not been much on the market to help children in Early Years (3 years and older) to develop their computational thinking skills.  When I discovered Cubetto therefore, I was keen to purchase one and trial it with our youngest students.  After more than 6 months of waiting, the Cubetto finally arrived last week!

The wooden robot comes with a wooden interface board (the remote control unit) in which to place colourful blocks and a fabric grid map.  Each of the plastic blocks represents a different directional instruction (forward, left, right and function).  As the children insert the blocks into the slots on the board, they create a “queue” of instructions, which are executed as soon as the blue “Go” button is pressed on the interface board.

By placing a sequence of blocks onto the interface board, children are building a chain of sequential instructions in a “queue”, as the robot executes the instructions in order.  In doing so, they can begin to understand the concept of a program as a sequence of instructions to be carried out.

One of the things I was particularly impressed by was the blue “function” blocks, which are used to pack more instructions into a single block.  A function can be created by inserting a sequence of blocks in the bottom line of the board (the function line), which is executed by the robot every time the blue block is encountered in the main instruction “queue”.

Concluding thoughts…

This is an engaging, robust and well-designed technology for very young children to begin learning to program.  The main difference between the Cubetto and other similar technologies on the market is the fact that the interface board does not use any screen – just plastic blocks to be inserted into slots, making it even more intuitive to use.

Lego Mindstorm is a robotics construction set that provides learners with a fun, practical approach to learning computer programming.  Included in each set (whichever version you get) is a ‘brick’ computer that controls the system, a set of sensors and motors, as well as lego parts to create the mechanical system.  We have recently been running a series of lessons using the robots with Class 3 (4^th graders/Year 5), and it’s proven to be a memorable learning experience.

Children were put into groups, and within each group, the following roles were assigned:

1. The role of the Reader is to read the instructions from the manual carefully, and then communicate these instructions to the Identifier and Builder.
2. It is the job of the Identifier to find and sort the pieces for each stage of building the Lego Mindstorm robot.
3. Finally, it is the responsibility of the Builder to assemble the pieces together.

By organising the groups in this way, each learner gets the opportunity to develop a different skill – e.g. communication, listening, collaboration or resilience.  Children then continue this activity over the course of a few lessons, and each lesson their role is changed to allow everyone the opportunity to develop a broad skillset.  By doing so, the process of just building the robot itself (before any programming is done) becomes a worthwhile experience for all.

In order to assist students with this process, I made a Stop Animation video (it also helped me learn to build the robot myself!):

Once built, the students take their robots to the labs in order to start programming.  The robots are connected to the computers via USB, which can then start to be programmed using the Lego Mindstorm NXT software.  This makes use of simple drag and drop programming blocks that the children are already quite familiar with from having played Blockly programming games.  The software is easy to use, as it’s very visual, includes lots of video tutorials and provides clear instructions on how to get the robot to do different things.  The tasks on the software are presented in numerical order of complexity with really easy tasks first – for example, how to program the robot to display a smiley face, how to get the robot to say “hello”, how to get the robot to spin, etc.  As the children learn to program the robots to perform simple tasks, they can chop and change the code in order to get the robots to perform increasingly complex actions, involving a range of different movements, sounds and images on the screen.

In just minutes, the different groups had grasped how to program their robots.  By the end of just one session, they had created all sorts of different programs using Lego Mindstorm NXT, and it was fun for everybody to then watch the robots in action.  (I recorded this short video clip below to provide a glimpse of one robot in action after it had been programmed by the children).

Lego Mindstorm provides the perfect opportunity to get children involved in a group project in which they can easily see for themselves the value of programming.  Creating a robot from scratch is not easy, but the sense of accomplishment after it’s built makes it worth the time and effort.