By David Dennis, Local Government Lead, Hexagon
Efficient data sharing is necessary to keep modern cities safe.
Cities make up more than half the world’s population and will see an additional 2.5 billion new residents by 2050. This growth will intensify demand for quick and connected event response.
Cities responded to this increased demand by developing systems and sensors that help citizens and councils communicate, visualize prioritise actions. A key development is the increased use of Internet of Things (IoT) networks — according to Deloitte, there are now almost 20 billion IoT devices active around the world. As a result, a growing number of council personnel can now access real-time situational awareness, unimaginable even a decade ago.
Unfortunately, there is sometimes a lack of integration among the IT used by councils and other safe city partners. This leads to stakeholders missing out on valuable insights when making key decisions, whether for short-term crisis response or long-term policy development. As it stands, a lot of data is being collected, but unfortunately, not all involved in ensuring public safety are benefiting from the technology.
The foundation is laid
Analysis of operational data is now being used to improve service and staff wellbeing by aligning resources and balancing workloads to reflect patterns in demand. Advanced analytics help inform councils though artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Council managers can now be alerted of developing situations immediately as significant patterns or anomalies are detected, meaning they can intervene faster to contain issues, and, in some cases, prevent tragedies.
By using a multi-tiered approach centred around data, where sophisticated technologies are used from the moment an event starts to the assessment of the response after events have passed, responses of all types are becoming more efficient and effective.
In short, the foundation for smart city management is already in place, but the overarching collaboration between councils and other safe city partners need to be maximised to focus on efficiency and resilience which is lacking in many places.
Increased connectedness
Due to their very nature, municipalities tend to decentralise management of day-to-day services. While this enables them to deliver a wide range of public services that are high quality, the departments and councils act independently from each other, using their own unique systems, processes, and assets.
With time, as city populations become denser and the services they rely on more interconnected and interdependent, this set up becomes untenable. If a seemingly isolated and innocuous incident in one location can have damaging ripple effects across the whole city impacting thousands of rate payers, all councils and other safe city partners including adjacent councils. All must come together to protect the public and the city’s economy, environment, and image. This requires IT systems to be in place that allow for such collaboration.
For example, the recent storms in the Dandenongs in Victoria caused severe economic and social damage to the area long after the initial storm. Many tourists cancelled vacation plans, business closed, and residents reduced spending. Even after the heroic work of emergency responders addressed the immediate threat, individuals and businesses continued to suffer, and the mitigation of those negative societal effects falls outside the remit of public safety institutions.
Coming to grips with all the challenges facing a municipality before, during, and after significant incidents is impossible. Councils whose departments work together with the sufficient technological tools, partnerships, and mindset will always be more resilient, as they can better contain situations and expedite recovery. Working together also helps retain the public’s confidence that authorities have the will, resource, and ability to keep them safe.
Holistic safety
As councils continue to grow and modernise, it is becoming clear that ensuring safety, and minimizing damaging effects of disruptive events, will not be possible working independently. Holistic strategies are required for safety and resilience, with technologies that not only leverage data in sophisticated ways but also enable widespread collaboration between relevant departments. Enacting this integration will help facilitate the evolution of event response, streamline the rollout of preventative policies, and grow the trust communities have in their leaders to keep them safe.
This sponsored editorial was brought to you by Hexagon For more information, visit https://www.hexagonsafetyinfrastructure.com/
