London has launched it’s Smart London Plan which details how digital technology will be harnessed to make London an even better place to live, work and invest.
“We need to harness London’s technical prowess to help the capital work even better as a city, support its growth and help our infrastructure and services to be more responsive to Londoners and business needs” London Lord Mayor Boris Johnson stated in the plan.
As one of the worlds leading cities, London is facing a number of critical challenges. London’s population is set to grow by 1 million people over the next 10 years, and is a projected to be home to 10 million people by 2030. This will mean an extra 641,000 jobs and 800,000 homes will be required, and public transport systems will need to support an additional 600,000 extra passengers at peak times, placing significant demand on city infrastructure that is already struggling to cope with the increasing demands placed on it.
Already, congestion on London‘s roads is costing the economy an estimated £2 billion, with Londoners wasting a staggering 70 hours in traffic each year. The explosion in population growth will place extra pressure on healthcare and transport systems, as well as create challenges in dealing with increased waste and demand for electricity and energy.
The Smart London vision identifies that without new approaches, London will not be able to grow whilst maintaining and enhancing its lead as the greatest city on earth.
The Smart London identifies key areas for improvement:
- Enterprise – enabling businesses to innovate and respond to demands
- Skills – enhancing access to knowledge and training to enable Londoners to take part
- Energy & utilities – efficient and responsive management of resources, absorbing additional pressure while reducing carbon impact
- Safety – converging technology and data to improve the safety of Londoners (e.g. enabling cross-agency responses to emergency call outs)
- Health – new ways of providing holistic patient care and monitoring
- Transport – planning and managing journeys to reduce congestion
The Smart London Plan is an initiative of the Smart London Board, which was founded in 2013, by the Mayor of London.
Read the Smart London Strategy
