SMART PLACES RESEARCH
We conduct research into current and emerging transformation of cities, places and spaces towards smartness, resiliency and environmental sustainability. A Smart Place is a city, place or space that
uses data and technology applied in smart, savvy and sustainable ways
transforms the management of its many physical and digital “systems of systems”
ensures local circular economic, environmental and social resilience and sustainability
maintains and enhances liveability for its citizens and future generations.
Research will be added on a regular basis. We welcome contributors and we adopt an open sharing and exchange of best practice and ideas approach. Join us.
World Data
We pose the question, is the global community doing enough to detect, respond and recover our planet for future generations?
The world consists of complex, multiple integrated ecosystems.
Digital transformation is happening across all organisations and offers opportunity to tackle global challenges such as
-
Climate Change,
-
Infectious Disease Control
-
Food and Water Security
-
Information Security and Privacy
-
Ethical and Inclusive approaches to Artificial Intelligence
The world is heading towards a global temperature of 2C and has surpassed 400 ppm carbon dioxide. Whilst Europe was the earliest significant contributor with relatively low population, the developing world is growing as it develops and as such impacts emissions.
The 2020 Washington Post article notes that the "[Scripps] findings, CO2 emissions reductions on the order of 20 to 30 percent would need to be sustained for six to 12 months in order for the increase in atmospheric CO2 to slow in a detectable way."
A 2017 Yale paper notes Keeling who establish this form of CO2 PPM monitoring stating it will take thousands of years to drop back to pre-indutrial revolution levels.
If man-made emissions were to magically drop to zero tomorrow, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere would start to level out immediately — but it would probably take about a decade to detect this ...getting back to pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm is “sort of a 10,000-year proposition,”...Atmospheric concentrations would drop relatively quickly at first, as the surface ocean sucked up a good chunk of the excess carbon in the air (that would take on the order of 100 years); then some atmospheric carbon would work its way into the deeper ocean (in about 1,000 years); then the planet’s carbon cycle — for example, the weathering of rocks — would soak up most of the rest over about 10,000 years."
The immediate impact of current and rising levels are glaciers melting faster, coral reefs bleaching impacting depleted fish stocks, sea levels rising, ocean heat sinks are creating more violent storms, hurricanes and cyclones. 400 billion tons of glacial ice has been lost since 1994. Decline in natural habitat, wildlife populations and increased pollution are all contributing to a less varied, less diverse environment and more extreme climatic world. Biodiversity loss is happening at significant levels converting rainforests into pasture, cropland, villages and urban areas, with other loss as a direct result of climate change such as bushfires and permafrost thawing. As a species humans cover 0.6 of the worlds carbon mass yet cover significantly more land and contribute to more pollution.
An insatiable desire for energy and significant issues with pollution from air and man made goods such as plastics that are harming health of humans, animals and fish.
This research seems so bleak but we need a baseline to work from however daunting it may appear.
Following sections provide more details into efforts to do that and assess their current viability and potential should new technology breakthrough happen.