Smart City Projects in Asia - Gimmick or Reality?

Smart cities, are the epitome of a sophisticated and modern lifestyle where everything runs on the efficiency of the latest technology. Although the term “smart city” has gained a wider currency, there is still confusion about what a smart city is, especially since several similar terms are often used interchangeably. While Asia Pacific is spearheading smart city growth triggered by urbanization and innovation, initiatives are not taking off as planned to achieve best practices in improving city resource management. With 5G trials, presence of legacy networks and new communication architectures, interoperability and compatibility of new and old platforms, security issues and advanced analytics – the IoT landscape in Asia shows an eclectic blend of trends that need to work together for projects to be successful. A critical factor to success is the government approach and involvement in driving these initiatives. This podcast talks about some of the challenges, implications and improvements that can be made in implementing smart city projects.