Cities and communities are engines of economic and cultural development, but their size and complexity can compound many of the most serious social and environmental challenges facing the world today.

Consuming two-thirds of the world’s energy while generating 70% of its global carbon dioxide emissions, they are also major contributors to the climate crisis. Current forecasts estimate that the world’s urban population will double by 2050. But are our current cities and communities able to meet the demands that come with rapid growth?

Once built, land patterns and physical forms are locked in, making any change difficult and slow. However, emerging technologies and innovative urban planning now offer the potential for cities and communities to become more nimble, robust and sustainable in the face of these challenges.

What are the challenge facing cities and communities?

In many places, the sheer scale of urbanization is placing strain on existing infrastructure, housing, services, and job markets. Their complexity and population density also makes them vulnerable, and slow to respond to acute shocks like pandemics and natural disasters. Cities and communities can quickly grind to a halt when faced with bottlenecks and outages related to transit or electrical grids, for example.

In many cities, rising populations are leading to a growing urban sprawl, resulting in unsustainable land use and pressure on natural resources. The World Bank estimates that, globally, 1.81 billion people (1 in 4) live in high-risk flood zones. And, since 1985, an area 50 times the size of greater London has been built in areas of the world with inundation depths of over 0.5 meters during severe floods.

So, what’s the solution? How do we build more sustainable places? 

Building the smart, sustainable, robust cities and communities of the future

The concept of a ‘smart’ or ‘resilient’ isn’t a new one, but in recent years technology has started to catch up with that vision. Today, they offer a viable means of dealing with the challenges facing cities and communities.

Smart, resilient cities and communities are those with capacity to both respond to shocks and plan to meet long-term challenges. The application of smart thinking will vary depending on the requirements and legacy infrastructure of the city or community in question. However, in broad terms, smart solutions can address a number of challenges, including:

• Environment: according to McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) analysis, a combination of air-quality monitoring, land-use optimization and electricity, water, and waste tracking could lower emissions by 10-15%. And there can be a substantially reduction in waste and resource use.  The recently-launched PAS 2080 standard can help the built environment sector with the transition to net zero by 2050 by managing and reducing the whole life carbon in buildings and infrastructure.

• Cost-of-living: solutions including dynamic energy pricing and digitized land use and permitting could combine to reduce access barriers and cost of basic and essential services.

• Health: data-driven public health initiatives and technology like remote patient-monitoring systems are predicted to be able to lower disease burdens by 8-15%.

• Transport: smart-mobility technology like intelligent traffic management can reduce gridlock and reduce commuting times by up to 20%.

• Emergency response: early warning detection systems for natural disasters like earthquakes can sync with infrastructure. For example, to shut down the flow of natural gas pipelines to reduce fire risk, or alerting hospital operating rooms.

We are still a long way from seeing fully mature smart cities and communities, and recent analysis shows even the most advanced examples have much to do. There have also been some notable failures, including the collapse of the Alphabet-backed Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto, which had been planned as a smart city prototype.

There are also concerns about whether smart cities and communities can ever be equitable – particularly in cities where a large number of residents live beyond the reach of city infrastructure. The former CFO of the City of Cape Town said on this point: “the cost of maintaining infrastructure… could actually be higher than the benefits resulting from the project.”

Success will rely on buy-in, investment and co-ordination at all levels. Progress continues to be made, and standards will play a significant role in bringing smart, sustainable, resilient cities to fruition.

How standards can help realize the vision of smart, resilient, sustainable cities and communities

Standards are at the forefront of developing smart cities and communities, providing a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve how the built environment interacts with the natural environment. Standards can help policymakers, planners, developers and civilians share best practice, align development and implementation of technology, and improve engagement.

Standards developed for local government will be particularly useful for building resilience and supporting development in areas like health, transport and environmental management. ISO 37101, for example, is  designed to support the implementation of strategies, programs, projects, plans and services related to sustainable development in cities.

Other standards designed to support the development of smart, sustainable and resilient cities and communities include:

• BS ISO 37109:2023 (Recommendations and requirements for project developers)

• BS ISO 37108:2022 (Guidance for practical local implementation of ISO 37101)

• BS ISO 37110:2022 (Management guidelines of open data)

• BS ISO 37106:2021 (Guidance on establishing smart city operating models for sustainable communities)

• PAS 2080:2023 (Carbon management in buildings and infrastructure)

As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, policymakers, planners, and communities themselves will have to radically rethink how cities and communities function and how we live within them. The tools are being developed to help rise to the challenge, and standards will play a significant role in ensuring success.