The UN estimates that there are now 33 megacities with a population of over 10 million with five of them being in India. As we pace towards developing an urban utopia and managing the brimming influx into our cities, we face the dilemma of how and where to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Indian ecosystem requires a smooth course to incorporate AI for spatial planning while simultaneously preparing for contingencies. 

AI can help lay out a well-thought roadmap for waste management, mobility, traffic systems, policing and healthcare among others, using data sensors. However, a separate dialogue on AI systems defeats the purpose and the potential of such ventures can only fructify when AI is no longer treated in isolation while designing the city framework. 

AI modelling should be used for these three key arenas for smart cities to truly transition into ‘intelligent’ spaces – Monitoring and Responsiveness; Connectivity and Anchoring; and running Predictive Simulations to navigate unprecedented situations.

Monitoring and Responsiveness

The urban utopia covers a concept of AI providing a god’s eye-view to the intricate city systems and public interactions. Initiatives like Huawei’s Intelligent Operations Centre and Alibaba’s City Brain are stepping up to the cause. Better monitoring can ensure timely solutions to be put in place. 

AI solutions are being explored for effective crowd management during emergencies and disasters. In 2015, Accenture worked with the Singapore Government during their SG50 Celebrations (50th anniversary of Singapore’ independence), and developed solutions aimed at predicting crowd behavior and potential responses to incidents. The solution resulted in 85% accuracy in high crowd activity, crowd size estimation and object detection. In 2019, the “Kumbh Mela Experiment” in India witnessed the use of Artificial Intelligence via an Integrated Command and Control Centre set up for the police to gauge crowd mobility, predict stampedes and track suspicious activity.

Connectivity and Anchoring

Science loves distilling down messy situations into neat data categories and hopes to run automation and govern accordingly. However, the datasets captured do not involve the lived experience of city dwellers and hence gives birth to a top-down technocratic order. Smart cities are not generating as much excitement as they probably should because not a lot has changed from the user standpoint.

Forging public-private partnerships can be a good start to induce a participatory approach to AI. The AIRAWAT (AI Research, Analytics and Knowledge Assimilation platform) platform in India seeks to provide this connectivity to all stakeholders involved in the AI research and application ecosystem, including startups, students, researchers and government organizations among others.

Modern urban planners need to fixate anchors to their city frameworks i.e. what they want to optimize using the data – cost efficiency, sustainability, convenience? One of AI’s biggest applications would be to provide connectivity and lay bridges to an anchor point within the city system like sustainability and circular economy and run city simulations accordingly. 

Predictive Simulations

AI can help in running blueprints and predictive scenarios of desired projects in a digital environment to study its feasibility on economic, social and sustainability level. The Center for Energy at the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) is setting a new milestone in research infrastructure, by opening one-of-its-kind City Intelligence Lab (CIL). The lab explores real-time simulation prediction and generative design using AI and augmented reality (AR) to comprehend unprecedented situations. 

Investing in such R&D infrastructure can save us from spending taxpayers’ money into unsustainable projects like the Maradu housing in Kochi, Kerala which was later demolished earlier this year due to violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. 

AI can create diverse planning scenarios using which urban planners can offer a broad portfolio of solutions for smart cities and their inhabitants.

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