Smart cities: the shape of things to come
Digital technology makes it feasible to monitor and connect everything from buildings to street lights to self-driving cars, and potentially allow governments to provide city services more efficiently.
Insight 1: The end of traffic Jams?
Smart-city transport solutions—from intelligent toll roads to
scooter-sharing systems—are making cities more efficient
and breathable. Download the PDF
Insight 2: Predicting urban evolution
Institutional real-estate investors are mining smart-city data
to understand the opportunities created by new patterns of
movement, improved energy efficiency and future climate
change. Download the PDF
Insight 3: Intelligent infrastructure
The smart city of the future will leverage technology to
improve the overall quality of life for citizens, including
their safety, health and more. Doing so could also create
attractive new investment opportunities. Download the PDF
More about smart cities from The Economist Intelligence Unit
The term “smart cities” conjures visions of a future where digital technology monitors and connects everything from buildings to street lights to self-driving cars. It allows governments to provide better city services more efficiently, creating a more accessible, safer, cleaner and greener environment in the process. The city’s citizens are able to better utilise all the city has to offer, from the convenience of their smartphones. Most cities today are far from that vision but many are working towards it, both investing in smart infrastructure and creating ecosystems that allow urban innovation to flourish.
However, many cities, constrained by austerity, must look to the private sector to fund this development. Institutional investors, seeking yield and looking to meet their long-term liabilities, have long been touted as the ideal sources of funding for infrastructure, whether smart or not. So why isn’t that much-needed flood of investment happening?
Read more from The Economist Intelligence Unit about the investment landscape for smart cities and the related opportunities and risks for investors.
Investment risks
The value of investments and any income will fluctuate (this may partly be the result of exchange rate fluctuations) and investors may not get back the full amount invested.
Important information
Where individuals or the business have expressed opinions, they are based on current market conditions, they may differ from those of other investment professionals and are subject to change without notice.
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Tags: Global, Investment