Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
power flowing from generating stations to end users. With the adoption of two-way
systems the addition of solar panels and other renewable energy devices in houses
can send the excess power back to the system or to storage systems. Denmark is
developing smart grids as a national project for the whole country, for they see their
utility in solving some of the problems of intermittency and storage associated with
solar and wind generating systems. Since 2000 many of these energy saving methods
have been assisted by grants from governments to households improving energy ef-
ficiency in their homes. There is little doubt that new electronic devices with remote
commands will increase the ability to monitor household appliances from a distance.
In addition new monitoring systems of traffic flow systems are being tested which
can automatically assess the level of congestion on roads and then adjust traffic
lights. Researchers are developing many different types of these so-called smart sys-
tems which may help transform some of the functioning of cities in the next 20 years
and reduce fuel consumption, which many believe will create smarter cities. But
there is another way in which cities can become smarter. This is by the more effec-
tive use of the huge and often complex amounts of data that cities and other public
organizations gather, especially if it contains locational co-ordinates to enable maps
to be constructed. By making this so-called Big Data available to all departments
and in some cases to citizens, better identification of developing problems and more
efficient solutions to many problems can be provided, from monitoring utility lines
to transport systems. The increased knowledge may improve the governance of cit-
ies and increase citizen participation, although there does exist the problem of who
owns and can use data if it comes from multiple sources that include private com-
panies. Analyses of the data allow trends to be spotted, often through corroboration
from different sources, that would be difficult to detect using small, separate compi-
lations. Hilbert and Lopez (
2011
) have calculated that the world's per capita capacity
to store information has doubled every 40 months since the 1980s, which shows the
rapidity of change. Many departments in cities can benefit from these larger and
more accessible data sets, given new computing capabilities, although they almost
certainly need to reorganize their data gathering and management systems. The dis-
cussion on Safe Cities (Chap. 12) will show that police forces in particular are using
rapid compilations of crime figures and their locations to produce better analyses
and quicker responses to crime incidents.
6.5.3
More Sustainable New Urban Areas
Some of the best examples of sustainability can be found in the late-twentieth cen-
tury area developments in Northern and Western European cities, especially in the
Netherlands. One is Leidsche Rijn, a growth area adjacent to Utrecht which has
been designed to accommodate 30,000 houses and the same number of jobs, with
a population reaching 80,000 by 2025, one of Holland's largest new developments.
Instead of the typical pattern of either allowing sprawl on the city's edge, or restrict-
ing development around the city which would end up by creating spill-over growth
in small towns around the city, the plan will concentrate development in this growth
