Smart cities using data captured by the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and processed with artificial intelligence (AI) are all the rage today among cities. Promoters tout the benefits these data-driven utopias, but as an urban planner, I tend to be sceptical of marketing hype. In the past, urban innovations painted visions that masked their real intentions and results. Urban renewal was sold as “garden cities,” but became black removal. Redevelopment during the 1980s eliminated small businesses and poor residents to make way for corporate offices, stadiums, and convention centers, leaving “ghost cities” with officials wondering why shoppers left for suburban malls. The race to attract “the creative class” has resulted in skyrocketing housing prices, gentrification, income inequalities and homelessness. As planners know, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” Smart cities are typically pitched as ways to make cities safer, healthier and wealthier, but is it true? What are their real impacts?
Golden Saint Technologies (LON:GST) builds on the profitable ICT business of its Singaporean subsidiary EMS Wiring Systems, which has been supplying governments and large private organisations with intelligent building solutions for the last 28 years. GST’s strategy is to develop solutions to meet the needs of the ICT industry, acting on the surging opportunities in the technology and innovation sectors – Data Centres, Intelligent Buildings, Smart Cities and the Internet of Things – and particularly targeting emerging markets where the demand for ICT infrastructure is rapidly increasing.
