Global Market Outlook for Smart Cities to 2025 - A $1.8 Trillion Market - ResearchAndMarkets.com
Source: business wire Published: Sept. 8 2020
The global market for Smart Cities is projected to reach US$1. 8 trillion by 2025, driven by the growing world population, unscrupulous exploitation of natural resources, and the ensuing search for sustainable ways to accommodate the 7+ billion people on the planet. The continued growth in population is already wielding a profound impact both on the environment and quality of human life.
Lavish lifestyles in the developed Western economies are resulting in these economies consuming more than their fair share of Earth's already constrained resources, while haphazard urbanization, ill-planned cities and overcrowding in developing economies are resulting in enormous wastages of precious natural resources. Unchecked urban sprawl is driving modern cities to their limits. Public infrastructure and resources ranging from food, energy, water, security, digital communication to transportation are being stretched to the breaking point. Inequitable distribution of resources is resulting in high cost of living, rising levels of pollution, cultural clashes, increased crime rates, and shortages in housing accommodations, among others. Restrictions on personal freedom is another key fallout of population explosion i. e. limits on water consumption, limits on driving, and limits on travel. Impact on the ecosystem includes species extinction, habitat destruction, and habitat fragmentation.
In short, population explosion, a common thread cutting across countries and continents, is nibbling away at the planet. As countries, governments, and communities scramble to support this increase in population, coming to fore is the concept of Smart Cities enabled by intelligent information and communication technologies (ICT) technologies. Cities are becoming smart not just through the automation of day-to-day functions but also through the manner in which these functions can be monitored and analyzed for optimizing resource utilization, reducing costs, enhancing operational efficiency and improving quality of life.