Do you live in the countryside or in a city?
More than half the world's population now lives in cities -
and that number is only growing.
City life often means crowded spaces, endless traffic jams,
and bad infrastructure.
And when people move to new cities, loneliness can be a huge problem.
It can also be an issue for older people.
Luckily, there are quite a few solutions floating around - And
that's what we'll take a look at today on SHIFT.
Whether it's Kinshasa, Tokyo or Dhaka: Megacity
populations are exploding.
According to a UN report, Indian capital Delhi will hit 43 million
in the next ten years.
And that's just one example.
When cities grow, the needs of its inhabitants are rarely
prioritized.
So in order to better understand those needs, city planners in
Estonia's capital Tallinn came up with a new idea: digital twins.
Creating virtual copies of new districts before they
actually get built.
And that’s what we have here: a digital twin of Hundipea,
a future district in Estonia’s capital Tallinn.
The virtual representation helps to test and improve living conditions
in the new quarter – before the building process starts.
One of the benefits of having the digital twin at the planning
stages is for example we can already simulate the microclimate –
and look how we change the cityscape to actually make it
better for us people and for nature.
Markus Hääl and his team created this digital twin with the help of
data on the structure of the area, transport routes, the
weather and vegetation.
Next, they used the digital twin to map out the general design of
the district and to find ideal spots for schools, shops and cafés.
So, digital twin firstly helps you place the density to different
spots and play around with that.
Understanding where the people are in that area.
This is actually the foundation.
The digital twin can also simulate construction materials
and energy demand.
It helps the planners calculate how the cityscape, greenery and weather
will affect the microclimate of the new district.
I change the street 20° to the left, I put some trees in front
of the waterfront, and now I change the wind on top of it, and suddenly
I can see the heat islands and the cold islands changing.
This gives me, for example, the universal thermal comfort
index, which measures which temperatures are comfortable for
people.
Hääl estimates that using the digital twin could reduce CO2
emissions by 80% over the first five years alone.
The digital twin helps us to see how much materials we need, what is
their footprint in general, and what happens if we change
out those materials.
Instead of having to rely on experience and opinions, digital
twins fed with large amounts of data can find the best possible
options from an environmental, social and economic perspective.
This could also help promote using public transportation,
walkways, bicycle lanes and recreational areas.
Hääl hopes that more digital twins will be developed using
this software – in accordance with each city’s unique requirements.
In 3-5 years, our plan is actually to make it more self-service, more
universal so it would actually apply to places that have a much
different climate than Estonia, like Mumbai in India for example.
You can just take the tool, put your plot in and work
with it yourself.
Mumbai and Tallinn are clearly very different cities.
But they do have one thing in common: many people living there
can often feel lonely.
In India, there's an app for older people to combat this problem.
It's supposed to help those who feel alone - online, and offline.
Chandrakanta and Ramesh Sahni live alone in a flat in Gurugram,
a satellite city of Delhi.
Both their sons live abroad with their families.
We do feel lonely.
Our children want us to move abroad and live with them, but it's
difficult getting visas.
And honestly, we belong to a generation that loves
our own Indian culture.
No matter how many facilities are available in other countries, it
cannot replace the comfort we feel here.
Their children recommended the app-based service Emoha.
The app helps the elderly access medical services, home healthcare,
home maintenance services and even a community to engage with
over entertainment sessions.
A caregiver called ‘Emoha Daughter’ looks after the couple’s needs and
gives them company.
For the Sahnis, their caregiver is 25 year-old Mahima Sharma.
The Emoha "daughter " spends time with her assigned senior citizens
and helps them sort out their medical documents by using
the app.
It lets you add a person’s medical history, their doctors
and insurance details.
I look after a lot of people who are quite old and live alone as
their children live in a different country.
So I take care of a lot of things- their medication;
booking medical appointments.
And every day, we call them at a particular time to check on them,
to see if they need anything.
Currently I take care of 35 people.
Mahima treats us like a family member.
She asks about our daily routine too and immediately notices if I am
sounding low and asks if everything is okay.
But services like Emoha
come at a cost: The membership plans range from 50 cents to 170
Euros per month.
Emoha states that medical records and other information are
safe from misuse.
However, great care should be executed when handing over
information to a company.
They are a good option for those people who can afford it but
the bulk of them in old age find it unaffordable.
The Sahnis have found an affordable partner in Emoha that provides them
with necessary services, and it has also given them a dependable
companion like Mahima.
For me giving Emoha that human touch is a great idea.
Another classic problem we see with cities are traffic jams.
In places like London or Los Angeles, commuters spend several
days a year stuck in traffic.
Not only are they a waste of time, but they're also bad
for the environment!
Aside from living a more sustainable life, how can we
motivate people to switch to public transport or cycling?
Perhaps by creating a reward system.
Let's talk about transportation.
Going places without a car could help save CO2 emissions – and it
might even get you a discount… Green mobility companies are
helping individuals reduce their own emissions related to
their transport by helping incentivize them and reward them
for using low-carbon travel.
For example Greencent are using their technology to reward people
for cycling more into work.
The Greencent app tracks the distance users travel on
their bikes or on public transport, like buses or the subway.
For every six kilometers traveled without a car, users are
awarded one Greencent.
These virtual tokens can then be used in local shops.
Greencent currently has 800 users in three countries, the majority of
which lives in the Hungarian capital Budapest and in
Munich in Germany.
In Europe, more than a dozen green mobility companies
work with incentives.
But cities need to have a few things in place to
use these programs.
This could be increasing pedestrianized zones, developing
more cycling lanes, and just always improving public transport to
ensure that as many people are sharing out these emissions rather
than using their own cars.
Incentive schemes are only one piece of the puzzle to reduce
traffic and emissions to improve the quality of life in cities.
But research has shown that these loyalty programs can
motivate users to reduce their carbon footprint.
Often people do need that extra push to start engaging with climate
solutions.… you just download an app, and then it kind of tracks
it for you, so there’s a limit to what you need to do to start
getting rewards for living a low-carbon lifestyle.
In order to increase the quality of life in cities, planners need data.
But getting data on cities is easier said than done because
they're constantly changing and in some countries, you'll find
that not all houses and markets are even registered.
Researchers for the PEAK Urban project in Colombia are now
using satellite images for their analysis.
How much water does a city really need to keep its residents
healthy and happy?
How many parks are essential for a pleasant urban life?
How many streets and bike routes ensure good traffic flow?
As cities and demands change, informal settlements, unplanned,
and unauthorized housing areas can lead to limited access to
infrastructure and basic services.
At the university EAFIT In Medellín, Colombia, researchers in
the PEAK urban program are discovering the power
of satellite images.
By analyzing these images, Juan Carlos Duque and his team were able
to spot informal settlements in the city of Medellín.
The images also allowed them to spot impoverished areas.
We develop quantitative methods that allow us to generate variables
from these images and to better understand society without making
a single survey.
The researchers trained a data model named Newton.
This system analyzes data to predict the future water
requirements in a city based on urban growth projections.
You download a series of historical photographs of the city you want to
analyze for free and artificial intelligence, specifically neural
networks, begin to understand the dynamics of that growth and can
then make forecasts for the future of those urban spots.
Satellite images also serve as a valuable tool for identifying
informal markets trading outside of formal structures.
This allows experts to monitor conditions for merchants, consumers
and employees alike.
The neural network was trained to detect more signs of commercial
presence, like a storefront, or merchandise on display.
So we looked at millions of points over the city, processed them with
this tool and then had new maps of the distribution of commercial
activity within the city.
The use of satellite images has also become crucial for
the global challenge of sustainable urban mobility.
Being able to use all these open sources of information in open
software obviously allows us to reach new levels of complexity.
We can even explore variables currently impossible to test with
official information, but this data can really enhance
our research processes.
Analyzing satellite images can be very useful in urban planning.
To safeguard sensitive information however, data security is crucial
when using them.
There are many examples of how tech solutions can help improve
the quality of life in cities.
But in order for these solutions to really have an impact and make
a difference, authorities need to fully embrace and promote them.
What changes would you like to see in your city - and do you think
technology can help find solutions?
Get in touch with us on social media and let us know your ideas.
That's it from us today - see you next time!