Vincent Leong Poh Man and Wong Yi Min

Smart Cities – What Technologies Can Eventually Do in the Built Environment

Vincent Leong Poh Man, vleong@bkasiapacific.com BKAsiaPacific (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore

Wong Yi Min, wongym21@yahoo.com Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers, Singapore

Abstract

Cities have been actively exploring the possibilities of deploying a plethora of smart city solutions to drive greater urban resilience. As cities start to reopen their economies and people return to work, we wish to have green and smart buildings like a giant N95 facemasks, protecting occupants from harmful toxins the moment you step inside. What contribute to smart cities other than deploying of technologies would be the implementation of circular economy and creating a smart building that improve occupants lives with the use of technology like a smart city and gives wellness to the occupants. Becoming a smart city is not a goal but a means to an end. The entire point is to respond more effectively and dynamically to the needs and desires of residents. Today 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, but by 2050 almost 70% of the world will. Technology is simply a tool to optimize the infrastructure, resources and spaces they share. Findings on how smart buildings can lead to smart cities and how it improves health and productivity of the occupants would be shared. The traditional roles of Quantity Surveyors have evolved tremendously to accommodate green and smart buildings in conjunction with new roles. These changing roles in relation to making buildings smart, green and liveable include sustainability strategy development, consulting in green building rating system, etc. Quantity Surveyors are required to progressively hone their skills and knowledge of new and emerging building materials that allow him to advise on the cost of developments and inform the design team on the parameters of efficiencies, design factors and life cycle costing assessment (value engineering and cost worth models).

Key words

circular built environment, green, life cycle costing, smart cities, wellness.

1 Introduction

In retrospect, “smart cities” has long been a fashionable policy research area with multiple cities collaborating with the private sectors to apply the use of technology across public infrastructures. In most developed countries, the government has recognized the importance to speed up the whole-of-nation level digitalization across industries. Smart facility management, internet of things (IoT), surveillance, security and circular built environment are becoming the hallmarks of smart cities as they create technologically advanced, safe and liveable urban environments despite times of pandemic.

Smart buildings are essential parts of a scalable smart city, providing key building blocks for the centralized management and operation of services like electricity, gas and water in order to

help reduce consumption and cost. Ultimately, individual smart buildings are a critical part of a smart city’s collective and collaborative ecosystem. The idea of smart buildings is not new; there is hard-wired intelligence in essentially every structure with wireless connectivity or central climate control. Expanding that idea citywide of making a single structure safer and more energy efficient, has potentially world-shaping consequences.

2 What Makes a City “Smart”?

Generally, a smart city revolves around data and more specifically, integrating that data together in order to generate insights. The growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) applications and devices, for instance, as well as sensors, security cameras, digital kiosks, have ushered in a new age of big data-based everything. Gathering the data alone is not enough. It’s through the intelligent use of analytics and application, which provides value and allows cities and centralized command and control platform to help monitor, manage and control systems across its disparate communities.

Smart cities add digital intelligence to existing urban systems, making it possible to do more with less. Connected applications put real-time, transparent information into the hands of users to help them make better choices. These tools can save lives, time, reduce waste, and even help boost social connectedness. When cities function more efficiently, they also become more productive places to do business. As cities get smarter, they are becoming more liveable, more responsive, and today we are seeing only a preview of what technology could eventually do in the urban environment.

A similar concept, smart-eco city, proposes that the city should be ecologically healthy, using advanced technologies and having economically productive and environmentally efficient industries, have a responsible and harmonious systematic culture, a physically aesthetic and functionally living landscape.

2.1 What Entails Smart Cities?

Other than the IoT, we should investigate what contribute to smart cities other than deploying of technologies. The authors look into smart buildings which further compliment to the goal of smart cities as a whole. A smart building should also improve occupants lives with the use of technology like a smart city but gives wellness to the occupants.

Buildings have been traditionally seen as physical structures with on-premises solutions focusing on the building operations. However, due to technology advancements and the emergence of IoT, buildings have transformed into interfaces between the users of the building and the wider community around the building. From an operational point of view, buildings are moving towards becoming self-adaptive or autonomous, with prescriptive maintenance mechanisms enabled by machine learning.

With all buildings required to be net-zero carbon by 2050 to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the demand for smart buildings is only increasing. Government policies, teamed with financial incentives for companies to invest in smart buildings, are crucial to help transition toward accessing major energy savings whilst improving energy services. Smart buildings contribute to smart cities as most of the time people spend their time indoor hence buildings should not be disregarded.

Moving forward, as cities start to reopen their economies and people return to work, installing green building technologies in shopping centres, offices, factories and other shared spaces can help to limit the spread of the virus within them and stand them in good stead against future disease outbreaks. Thus, there will be a stronger preference for buildings with wellness and environmental features. We can imagine green and smart buildings as giant N95 facemasks, protecting occupants from harmful toxins the moment you step inside.

Not every city needs to be engineered from the ground up to be smart. Instead, older buildings and cities can be retrofitted in smaller but important ways. Smart buildings often allow their owners and operators to extract better data out of the structures and make continuous tweaks to their energy consumption. In the longer term, new buildings can further shrink their carbon footprint and aid in disease prevention by maximising natural ventilation or making use of innovative ventilation systems that are already deployed in cities.

2.2 What is the Role of a Quantity Surveyor in Smart Cities Development?

The role of a Quantity Surveyor (QS) is evolving to keep abreast with the sustainable needs and new technologies including smart cities and smart buildings. Developer now engages with the QS at the very early stage of a development and way before any construction has taken place to utilise their expertise in the feasibility, design and planning stage to achieve the best value.

At the conception stage of the construction project, a QS will produce a schedule of all the materials to be used during the project. It is at this point that the QS can ensure sustainable materials are used in the smart buildings. Sustainability has long been associated with additional cost, but the QS will look at the long-term value although some of the materials may be more costly in the short term. The QS can look at other ways to promote sustainability in smart buildings e.g. look at how to reduce build times, minimise wastage and to use preassembly wherever possible.

The QS should be well educated with sound knowledge on the environmentally friendly technologies and innovations in smart cities and buildings and keep up to date of the new and emerging building materials and technologies that allow him/her to advise on the cost of developments and inform the design team on the parameters of efficiencies, design factors and concepts. The QS often support in avoiding over-specification, minimise energy use through recommending new technologies, reduce waste by avoiding the intensive use of materials etc.

The authors recommend that QS can rise to the challenges by:

1. Understand what is required for smart buildings and green buildings;

2. Understanding various green building rating tools in the world and criteria such as

EDGE Certification, LEED, BREEAM and Green Mark;

3. Understanding the sustainable designs and integration of smart buildings (including knowledge of sustainable materials, latest green products and technologies);

4. Smart buildings and green buildings costing;

5. Life-cycle costing and assessment (including value engineering and cost worth models).

As the world evolves into smart cities, it is inevitable that QS has to change the way they work traditionally. An effective QS wears many hats in the new era and are required to treat the discovery, specification, quantification, and implementation of smart infrastructure from cradle to grave in a project cycle. QS who double up as technologists or facilities managers can contribute to data conversations; empathise with clients better and provide pragmatic solutions.

3 Conclusion

Becoming a smart city is not a goal but a means to an end. Today, buildings account for 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions, an even bigger carbon footprint than transportation. Cities consume an extraordinary amount of energy; lighting alone accounts for an average of 30% to 40% of municipal electricity budgets. A smart city could help curtail those numbers, increasing energy efficiency while significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

The future of cities is smart. Intelligent buildings that would have been unimaginable a few decades ago are now a reality and will be crucial to the development and success of sustainable smart cities. From home and office to transport and utilities, smart cities will begin to take shape, as advances in IoT and AI bring together smart buildings, smart power grids, and electric vehicle (EV) charging to form a new smart society ecosystem that is increasingly interconnected and efficient.

For centuries, many buildings were designed and constructed in a similar way. They were the product of industrial processes, functionally inert and unresponsive to the changing environment. Ultimately, to increase the value associated with and generated by big buildings, architects and designers must embrace a building and planning proposition that goes beyond steel or concrete. Our structures must become living objects more attuned to the environment and the needs of those within. This will help lead to smarter cities that are more responsive to individual and collective needs.

The role of a QS is evolving to keep abreast with the sustainable needs and new technologies including smart cities and buildings. Sustainability has long been associated with additional cost, but the QS will look at the long-term value and look at other ways to promote sustainability in smart buildings e.g. look at how to reduce build times, minimise wastage and to use pre-assembly wherever possible. The QS should be well educated with sound knowledge on the environmentally friendly technologies and innovations in smart cities and buildings and keep up to date of the new and emerging building materials and technologies that allow him/her to advise on the cost of developments and inform the design team on the parameters of efficiencies, design factors and concepts.

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