[Contribution] Paris Evolving into a Smart City
Sustainable Smart City Paris Data Collection, Privacy, and Other Challenges of Smart Cities France Regional Expert Ban Ki-an (Managing Director, Impulse Partners) Paris, a Leader in Innovation The Paris Olympics, which heated up the world last summer, have come to an end. Despite much talk and controversy, Paris, which hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time in 100 years, showed a refreshing side in many ways. The opening ceremony was a groundbreaking move, taking place outside the stadium for the first time in Olympic history, with the Seine River as the backdrop, and the various events taking place in iconic buildings and historic sites scattered throughout Paris and its suburbs. It was an attempt that only Paris could make, and the entire city became a stage for a festival, showing the world what the Olympic Games were all about. It was also a conference that broke new ground in terms of diversity, inclusion, gender equality, and the environment. Paris has been striving to lead innovation not only in the Olympics but also in the smart city sector. Smart cities are a concept that emerged in the 1990s and seeks to solve problems facing cities by adapting rapidly developing information and communication technologies. Although Paris has been relatively slow to embrace digital transformation compared to other international cities, it is actively adopting and experimenting with various elements of a smart city. This is not the first time in history that Paris has led urban development or innovation. The modernization of Paris under the leadership of Baron Haussmann in the late 19th century became a model for many cities. Many people overlook this, but Paris was also the first city in the world to introduce shared bicycles and cars, known as Vélib' and Autolib'. The problems that 21st-century cities must solve are numerous, not just in Paris but in cities around the world in the 21st century. Urbanization is still ongoing worldwide, and as populations flock to cities, the challenges cities face are also increasing. A typical example would be climate change. Due to the greenhouse effect, the temperature of the entire Earth is rising, and the heat experienced in cities where the urban heat island phenomenon occurs is even more severe. As air quality issues due to fine dust have become a concern, we find ourselves checking related figures every day. Just because it's a city doesn't mean it's completely free from natural disasters. Rather, when floods, droughts, or earthquakes occur, the vulnerability of the city is fully revealed. As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued for several years, concerns about public health and safety have grown. With so many people crammed into small spaces, public hygiene has once again become an important issue. There is also deep concern about how cities can contribute to the healthy lives of their citizens. Having suffered a terrorist attack, Paris is also sensitive to the critical task of ensuring the safety of its citizens from terrorist attacks. We also cannot overlook social and economic problems such as polarization, increasing social inequality, and unemployment. We must manage social tensions by warmly embracing those who fall behind and are marginalized in the fiercely competitive process. It is also important to provide affordable housing for citizens, and we are increasingly hearing about overtourism. Despite the increasingly serious risks, or rather, to address them, we must create cities that are economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. Cities around the world are focusing on the new possibilities presented by digital transformation and innovation, represented by advancements in information and communication technologies, and more recently, the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence. They are seeking answers to the challenges facing 21st-century cities through the construction of smart cities. According to the French think tank research institute IDATE DigiWorld, $900 billion, or over 100 trillion won, will be invested globally in smart cities in 2024 alone. The problems that smart cities seek to solve are diverse. The total amount of energy consumed in cities must be reduced, and the share of renewable energy in energy production must be increased. The energy consumption of buildings is enormous, and much innovation and effort is still required. We need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that cause the greenhouse effect, and we are considering ways to reduce greenhouse gases emitted when people move or transport goods. For example, we are creating a walkable city and expanding bike lanes. These efforts will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also improve air quality by limiting the generation of fine dust. We also aim to improve water resource utilization to effectively use increasingly scarce water resources and protect citizens from natural disasters. Waste generation should be minimized, and any unavoidable waste should be recycled as much as possible. Smart cities offer solutions to increase green space within otherwise barren cities, and also include consideration for ecological diversity. Open data can be used to experiment with participatory democracy, but we must also be considerate and inclusive of the vulnerable. Paris, a Sustainable Smart City Paris aims to address the challenges facing cities in the 21st century and create new milestones by combining sustainability with the concept of a smart city. The detailed blueprint can be found in the report “Paris: A Sustainable Smart City” published by the City of Paris. The first important building block in the journey to making Paris a sustainable smart city is the 'open city'. We aim to utilize collective intelligence to think together about the problems of modern cities and find solutions. Citizens must be placed at the center of all these concerns. We are also increasing opportunities for citizens to participate in planning and executing city budgets. Research and innovation are other important pillars of the 'open city'. Paris is a city of education, home to a large number of students and researchers, and the city aims to continue supporting educational and research institutions. We are also making efforts to revitalize the startup and innovation ecosystem and are actively attracting overseas startups. Paris aims to realize a 'connected city' and maximize the benefits of digital transformation. First, there is a need to expand IT infrastructure, with the goal that by 2025, all Parisians will have access to high-speed internet, both wired (fiber optic) and wireless (5G). As sensors become more widespread, the use of the Internet of Things is increasing, and data centers capable of processing and storing massive amounts of data are becoming essential. The city of Paris makes public data available to citizens and businesses in the form of open data and also encourages collaboration between public institutions and private companies. We need to create and nurture new talents needed in the fields of big data and artificial intelligence. We will also strengthen digital education for the general public to prevent digital illiteracy from creating information gaps and marginalizing groups. [...]
