New York: 9 steps to a smart and equitable city

New York City aims at becoming the smartest city in the world

New York City officials have an ambitious plan. They want the City of New York to become the smartest city worldwide. To reach this goal, city officials have created the “Building a Smart + Equitable City” plan. It involves innovative changes in infrastructure, transport, energy, public health and the city’s government. These changes aim at making New York City a city where every New Yorker has equal access to all the opportunities the City has to offer.

Smart buildings and infrastructure for better service

The first step to making New York City the smartest city in the world is smart buildings that are provided with smart indoor lighting. Smart indoor lighting will save lots of money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Up to know New York has spent about 600 million dollars on electricity every year. By installing smart indoor lighting the City wants to reduce these costs significantly. To do so, the Accelerated Conservation and Efficiency (ACE) program has already installed smart energy saving projects including smart indoor lighting in several city agencies. Smart indoor lighting means using LED upgrades and advanced lighting controls. A great example for this smart technology is the New York Fire Department (FDNY). LED lighting has been installed in 86 firehouses and FDNY offices all over the city. Since these facilities operate 24/7, they can also save lots of energy by using LED lighting. LED lighting reduces costs of maintenance; it lasts longer and provides better quality. The project will be finished by 2017 and is expected to save the city about 480,000 dollars every year. Additionally, it is environmentally-friendly since greenhouse gases will be eliminated by over 600 metric tons of CO2 per year.

Providing the city with wireless water meters is the second step to becoming the smartest city in the world. These automated water meter reading (AMR) systems have saved the residents of New York City millions of dollars by providing them with usage data available online.

There are about 817,000 individual water meters distributed all over the City of New York. Every single meter is connected to a low-power ratio transmitter. This transmitter regularly sends water readings to receivers. The Network Operations Center (NOC) collects and analyses this data and provides users with up-to-date information on their water usage. Since this system eliminates manual meter reading, the City has already saved millions. Moreover, they have improved the level of customer service with customer billing disputes having dropped by 56 percent. This system is not only helpful for billing customers appropriately; the Leak Notification program also warns customers about possible water leaks and saves customers millions of dollars as well.

Better public transport, more mobility and less waste of time

Step three of the “Building a Smart + Equitable City” plan focuses on public transport and more mobility. The Midtown in Motion program uses real-time traffic information to reduce traffic jams and improve traffic flow. This system uses microwave sensors, traffic video cameras and EZPass readers to collect all the data necessary to forecast possible congestion and other obstacles that may slow down traffic flow. This program has already proven successful. Within the first year of its operation Midtown in Motion improved travel times by 10 percent.

Another option to offer residents more mobility is better public transport. To do so, City busses and traffic lights are equipped with real-time sensors that prioritize bus transit when approaching an intersection. Busses provided with this innovative technology will get an “early green” when the traffic light is still red or a “green extension” to make sure the bus can quickly pass the intersection. This technology has also proven its effectiveness; bus delays have been reduced by 20 percent and hence making public busses an attractive alternative to private cars.

Smart waste management and water quality

New York City is committed to making the City the smartest city worldwide which also means protecting the environment and providing residents with sustainable services. The fourth step of the plan includes smart waste management and water quality monitoring.

Smart waste management solutions focus on smart trash cans that will reduce garbage and the need to empty full cans. The sensors in these smart trash bins notify officials about the level of fullness and alert them once the cans need to be emptied. Moreover, these cans are solar-powered and compact the trash inside the can resulting in more space and less need to empty them. So far almost 700 smart waste and recycling systems have been installed all over this smart city. The benefits of these trash cans are multiple:

• routes can be planned more efficiently
• better planning saves time
• reduction of greenhouse gases
• less air pollution
• fuel can be saved
• more space inside the can
• less need to empty the cans

Besides better waste management, step five deals with another issue related to the environment; water quality. The water supply is the largest unfiltered water supply in the United States. To make sure that the quality of this water comes up to expectations a high-tech system has been installed.

The City’s monitor systems are equipped with sensors that transmit water data to the operation centres of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). This data provides officials with information on water quality and supply. Water is constantly analysed to detect possible anomalies such as contamination of water. In case of such a contamination the City Health Department and 311 services are automatically notified to take countermeasures.

Smart public health and safety

Step six to make New York City the smartest city worldwide includes better quality of air. Air pollution is one of the main causes for diseases in an urban environment. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) regularly measures air quality to control fine particulates, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, elemental carbon, and ozone levels. The information provided is helpful to New York City officials. They can react to the current quality of air and introduce regulations to reduce pollution and hence improve quality.

Apart from public health, the City’s plan also includes better detection of gunshots. Step seven of the plan focuses on detecting acoustic gunshots as they are fired. The system used is called ShotSpotter and is part of the city’s Domain Awareness System (DAS). This system includes hundreds of rooftop mounted sensors that are programmed to detect any acoustic gun shots. These shots can be located to within 25 metres of its location. According to estimations, about 75 percent of the shots captured by ShotSpotter would not be reported otherwise.

A smart city that provides better governance to its residents

As beautiful as a winter day in New York City may be, heavy snow fall can turn the residents’ way to work into an odyssey. Therefore, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has developed a tool called PlowNYC, step eight of the plan. This app enables the user to track snow plows and the removal progress in real time. This way New Yorkers know exactly when their streets will be cleared and it reduces the number of calls of residents asking the City’s 311 service centre to remove the snow.

Additionally, the City of New York offers a 24/7 service for residents’ requests in step nine. This 311 service can be accessed via phone, web, text, social, and mobile. Especially the 311 app is very popular among New Yorkers since it allows users to directly submit requests or complaints. These requests or complaints are tagged with the user’s GPS location, any other relevant information about their request and if necessary a photo. The app and social media channels enable the City to respond to requests and complaints faster and hence improve their services.

9 steps to make the city the smartest city in the world

New York City’s “Building a Smart + Equitable City” plan includes many different approaches on how to reach the goal of becoming the smartest city worldwide. Smart indoor lighting, smart waste cans and better traffic management do not only save costs and time, but also protect the environment.

Automatic water meters help residents save lots of money and air quality monitoring makes sure that the residents of this big city stay healthy and fit. Real-time gunshot detection, snow plow tracking and 24/7 requests are services that make New York City safer, more effective and allow residents to actively participate in making New York City the smartest city in the world.