TECH & CULTURE
Japan Leading Smart City Development
December 08, 2023
Smart cities are set to radically change the way we envisage city living. This is particularly true in Japan, a leader in smart city development, which has showcased its many capacities at the 12th Smart City World Expo Congress.
For the 12th year running, the leading public and private actors of the urban planning and smart city sectors gathered at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SMWEC) held in Barcelona on 7-9 November to envision the future of city living.
Japan was able to shine through its “Japan Pavilion”, showing the world the various Japanese projects and initiatives aimed at making cities more liveable, efficient and environmentally friendly. Major Japanese companies and start-ups, together with delegates from Japanese local government, were able to engage with international business partners on such varied topics as the optimisation of public transport and the Internet of Things (IoT), not to mention waste management and the digitisation of residential housing.
This is taking place against a backdrop of substantial development of the smart city concept in Japan, as the Japanese government implements its various projects as part of its 'Society 5.0' concept. First presented in 2021, this initiative aims to build a "people-centred" society that can both solve social problems and ensure economic development by adding "digital transformation" to the strengths of conventional urban infrastructure development. Japan’s data-driven smart cities adopt technologies including IoT, big data and AI, automated driving and biometric authentication.
Japan was able to shine through its “Japan Pavilion”, showing the world the various Japanese projects and initiatives aimed at making cities more liveable, efficient and environmentally friendly. Major Japanese companies and start-ups, together with delegates from Japanese local government, were able to engage with international business partners on such varied topics as the optimisation of public transport and the Internet of Things (IoT), not to mention waste management and the digitisation of residential housing.
This is taking place against a backdrop of substantial development of the smart city concept in Japan, as the Japanese government implements its various projects as part of its 'Society 5.0' concept. First presented in 2021, this initiative aims to build a "people-centred" society that can both solve social problems and ensure economic development by adding "digital transformation" to the strengths of conventional urban infrastructure development. Japan’s data-driven smart cities adopt technologies including IoT, big data and AI, automated driving and biometric authentication.
Japan's experience in dealing with the many human challenges inherent to its geographical context, in particular the management of natural disasters and ageing, has made it one of the world's leaders in the development of smart cities. Some successful and world-renowned examples of Japanese Smart Cities include the Sustainable Smart Town (SST) of Suita, which has succeeded in creating a high-voltage electricity distribution system with redundant power lines, making the community less prone to power cuts.
