Often when we think about smart technology we think smart phones, smart TVs, and even home assistants like Alexa. This week AEG and Johnson Controls held a Smart Ready Event in the heart of Los Angeles at the Staples Center. This event was setup to provide an inside look into âhow venues, buildings, and cities can become smarter and more sustainable.â
Depending on your viewpoint this was not the vision of Los Angeles we saw in Demolition Manor the Ridley Scott classic Blade Runner. In fact the future versions of Los Angeles those films portray might be even missing the possible advancements Johnson Controls is looking to provide to AEG and Los Angeles.
Johnson Controls has found that cities are looking to implement particular types of applications, including those that are sustainable and environmentally conscious, while also reducing costs, providing jobs, and increasing public safety. While these aspirations are commendable they also found that the barriers are many.
When Johnson Controls surveyed 330 cities including 120 from Canada and the United States they found that many faced similar fears including security concerns as well as lack of state and federal support. While this seems like a negative there are still many upsides including the fact that North America leads the world in the percentage of cities that intend or have already implemented smart city strategies.
With all the talk of âsmart citiesâ we have to be wondering what exactly a smart city includes? According to Johnson Controls smart cities include applications such as LED street lights, connected street lighting, smart public transportation, smart parking, smart electricity meters, and even air quality monitoring. With updated systems such as connected street lighting and smart public transportation the long term effects can be impressive since urban centers like Los Angeles will be the primary focus of such technologies.
Lisa Brown, the Senior National Director of Municipal Infrastructure and Smart Cities for Johnson Controls, mentioned that the âsmart cities marketâ is a billion dollar market. With the increased growth of urban sprawl experts have estimated that within the next twenty years that â70 percent of people will be living in urban environmentsâ and that smart applications are a responsible use of resources.
Along with the team on hand from Johnson Controls was the Chief Operating and Development Officer at AEG, Chuck Steedman. AEG is the operator of Staples Center, L.A. Live and the Los Angeles Convention Center. AEG and Johnson Controls have partnered so that AEG can merge the physical and digital path of the consumer. Mr. Steedman explained that the stress the fans attending an event at a stadium or concert venue take a toll on the cities infrastructure. The idea behind smart cities and smart venues is to âmeaningfully engageâ the consumer, Mr. Steedman stated, âbecause somebody whose engaged is going to be more than likely to repeat as a customer, more than likely to spend more money while on property.â Engaging users and their data is important to companies like AEG.
As it was stated by both Lisa Brown and Chuck Steedman, âdata is the new oilâ. Data is mined from consumers via apps, purchases, locations, web searches, and social media. Smart cities and companies like Johnson Controls and AEG intend to use that data to make money and smart choices about the future of cities. Will the smart cities of tomorrow be utopian dreamscapes we hope or more of
