The future of the cities
23 / 09 / 22 - 4 minute read
Jaewon Peter Chun first realised just how different cities could be after a visit to Amsterdam in the early 1990s. Chun was amazed how back then the Dutch capital excluded cars from the city centre and chose to build bike paths instead. As Chun commented: “That was my first view of a smart city. And I found it so striking.”
His interest sparked, Chun decided to become involved in developing smart cities. His first challenge was in Canary Wharf, London, in 2015, where he helped further the UK government’s plan to turn East London into ‘Tech City,’ a global technology hub meant to rival Silicon Valley.
As founder and CEO of XnTREE, a London-based tech startups accelerator, he then helped nurture more than 200 startups at Level39, Europe’s largest open tech cluster, where more than ten unicorns were born. Chun’s development at Canary Wharf prompted him to create what he refers to as his “smart city tech sandbox” to promote tech startups and SMEs within a non-governmental environment.
The concept creates a small ecosystem, allowing at least 30% of the cost of all smart city projects to go directly to competitive SMEs or startups. Operators are selected via an open competition system. A maximum of 200 companies are given a chance to prove their ideas in front of the city government in the hope of being selected. The winner then sets up a direct contract with the local government.
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Rebuilding Ukraine
As President of the World Smart Cities Forum (WSCF), a non-profit organisation based in London, Chun now advises governments worldwide on establishing smart city initiatives using his tech sandbox model. Expertise gathered along the way includes being nominated as a master planner for a $4 billion South Korean Smart City national pilot project.
Since 2020, Chun has also been working on smart city projects in Hanoi and, more recently, in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Lviv. Even during wartime, Ukraine is brimming with potential and is keen to discuss how to rebuild cities using the best tech solutions and architecture.
Chun wants to try and build bases for healthcare and help digitally design regenerated cities in the country. “A smart city requires a lot of money and resources. But we can provide a better way forward and secure more financial aid by gaining government support from countries and creating a peer group of cities to share their resources. We plan to host promotions in more than 15 countries by the end of 2023.”
You must spend time defining the problems of an urban area and working out which problems should be prioritised. We try to work out whose solution or technology could best work so that we can test it and build a blueprint.
Jaewon Peter Chun
A new smart social city concept
In the aftermath of COVID-19, cities need to seek new ways and adapt to lure people back downtown, admits Chun. “In New York, some 420,000 people exited the city during the pandemic to care for their kids and because everything shut down. Many of these won’t come back post-COVID as they don’t see the relevance or the benefits.” Thankfully, the pandemic plus the war in Ukraine highlight the importance of cities that are resilient, liveable and sustainable. Cities now must work out how to allocate resources to support these ever more concrete issues while placing people at the heart of their solutions. As Chun points out, people are the most essential aspect to take care of when it comes to smart cities. In Chun’s view, the core stakeholders in an urban area constitute the cradle of the data on which to build future cities.
“Computers can work out these algorithms so that we can achieve greater
synergy resulting in better experiences for those living in cities.”
Nikki Greenberg
Tech solutions can help the elderly
Nikki Greenberg, thought leader and founder of Real Estate of the Future, views technology as a way of silently, in the background, optimising the places where we live. "At the end of the day, it’s about quality of life – a combination of high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech solutions. What you want to have is a place that is wonderfully designed.” Technology can, for a start, adapt cities better for an ageing population. Voice technology solutions, where the elderly just talk to a device rather than having to grapple with unfamiliar technology, can be applied to help them navigate a city and its total services and amenities. Smart cities can also bring about greater efficiencies. Take, for example, sequencing traffic lights to ease traffic flows. Or guiding people into parking spots, so they’re not endlessly circling, causing more pollution. Greenberg comments,
Jaewon Peter Chun
President of of the World Smart Cities Forum (WSCF)
Investment Horizons 2022 – NEXT NOW for Cities and Communities
Nikki Greenberg and Jaewon Peter Chun are among the thought leaders appearing at this year’s Investment Horizons. Held on 17 November this summit will focus on infrastructure innovation and real estate investment intelligence to unlock tomorrow’s value through advanced, sustainable living solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s smart cities.
Nikki Greenberg
Thought leader and founder of Real Estate of the Future
Further Reading
