Bergur Thormundsson
Research expert covering technology in the Nordics, AI and smart cities
Smart Cities in the United States - statistics & facts
Smart cities are an interesting phenomenon within modern urban development. The concept of a smart city truly straddles the entirety of human design and innovation, from data to AI, to energy technology, to transportation, to simple things such as city layout. All these technologies are bound together with the incredible potential of the connected Internet of Things (IoT), the glue that wires all of this together. As urbanization is a continuing trend in the modern world, smart city is a vital topic around the globe. This trend is no less vital to the United States, who's largest twenty-five cities each contain well over half a million citizens, and the largest easily over five million.
Land versus connection
The vastness of the United States allows it to increase and improve the size and designs each city can grow into. This can be tracked with housing prices, as those have been consistently lower in the U.S. compared to the far higher prices experienced in Europe. These smart homes further fuel the development of a smart city. This smart home and city concentration does lead to a considerable drawback, which is the connectivity of public transport. The U.S. relies heavily on private vehicles rather than the growing market of smart transport, a field expected to grow beyond 141 billion U.S. dollars in 2024.Data and efficiency
The U.S. houses some of the more digitally capable cities in the world, with New York, Washington D.C., and Dallas all making the top list. As previously mentioned, IoT connects the cities, and it requires an exceptionally large amount of data, data storage, and data processing capability to keep up this connection. The U.S. is blessed in the capacity, with large data centers already in production in the second half of 2022. Energy efficiency is another key aspect of smart city development in the United States. While the country is largely self-sufficient in energy consumption, it is also a leader in attempting to incentivize energy efficiency and the use of renewables, with the states of California, Minnesota, and Texas all having strong incentive programs.Bergur Thormundsson
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Feb 27, 2024
Bergur Thormundsson
Research expert covering technology in the Nordics, AI and smart cities
