Having recently had time to catch up on a video or two brought me back to The Things Conference UK that we hosted in Reading last October. None of us knew how the world would change a few months later. This slide visualises a city of dwellers having to mitigate poor air quality by wearing masks, and shows how this can be tackled by adapting the streetscape in innovative ways. Erica Purvis consults as a visionary helping businesses and cities prepare for the future life of their products and services. In presenting to the audience Erica talked about design for the circular economy, re-use vs recycle, the impact of design on the planet & people, and smart city design strategies as bridges to the world we want to live in.
All this was in the context of The Things Network and Internet of Things (IoT) prompting us to think, not only about the lifecycle of IoT devices and their physical impact on the planet, but how the data collected and services enabled by their deployment can become the best enabler for good change. City data that is currently being collected automatically includes air quality, micro-climate conditions, water quality, noise levels. These feed analytics to the Local Authority and aid streetscape planning and design. In the past, intermittent surveying was the main source of data. With IoT devices connecting to a city wide LPWAN Things Network data is collected throughout the day, helping build a digital twin of the city.
People movement and street sentiment data can help inform residents & visitors regarding routes to home, to work or education; help guide businesses planning to locate premises within the city; and at this time of restrictions informs the local authority thus allowing wider pavements to be provided when needed to aid social distancing.
Erica’s video is available on YouTube and a playlist of other videos from the The Things Conference 2019 can be found here.
January 2020 sees the global Things Conference going virtual with a week of online events available around the world. Get your tickets now.
Thingitude offer services to support IoT and LPWAN deployment for smart cities, businesses and local authorities. We run workshops for professionals and community groups. Contact us for details.