What 5G means for smart cities

23 October 2019 Source: Smart Cities World

The speed at which 5G is deployed worldwide will have a significant impact on how soon it will become the defining technology of smart cities, says Babak Beheshti.

Today, approximately 55 per cent of the world’s population lives in cities. This will reach 68 per cent by 2050, according to the United Nations.

By the same year, the continued migration of people from rural to urban areas, augmented by general growth of the earth’s population, will see an increase in another 2.5 billion residents to the world’s big cities.

Premise of smart cities

Managing the resources and operations of so many large cities can only be cost-effective and efficient if they are automated and connected – and this is the basic premise of smart cities.

The creation of smoother and safer living through a gradual digital transformation is already beginning in some world cities, but it does not end there. Streets, buildings, public and personal devices need to be interconnected.

5G is an enabling technology for IoT, and as smart cities essentially rely on IoT to function, 5G and smart cities are inextricably linked

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