Page 10 - Security Today, January 2018

Growing into a Smarter, Safer City Technology plays an ever-increasing role in smarter cities
BAy Pota Kanavaros
s technologies and laws continue to evolve and more people move into urban centers, cities are looking for ways to become smarter — and safer. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in an urban area. It is predicted that by 2030, our planet will have
41 mega-cities with more than 10 million inhabitants each. After all, a successful city attracts businesses, fosters innovation and provides incredible opportunities for its citizens. City officials are always seek- ing ways to become more efficient and adaptable.
In order to evolve into resilient cities, technologies that are flex- ible, connected and secure are needed to help stakeholders reach higher levels of collaboration. Collaboration is key to becoming a smarter and safer city that assists in improving the livelihood of com- munities, tourists and businesses.
The challenge is, how do we put systems and processes in place that will keep our cities safe while allowing them to adapt and grow as populations increase and technology advances? How do we ensure that our cities continue to be resilient, even as they evolve and grow?
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The Role of Technology
Cities are using technology to break down siloes between key stake- holders such as law enforcement, transportation departments, schools and businesses. Together, these entities are collaborating and pooling resources to become more resilient to unplanned events and foster- ing a stronger sense of safety across the urban landscape. However, becoming a smart city does not come without its challenges. While most cities are taking leaps forward to work smarter, the realities of budgeting, revising policies and dealing with bureaucratic red tape can become overwhelming and taxing on resources.
In many cases, city agencies such as law enforcement, transit de- partments and other public and private entities are still using legacy analog technologies. These closed-architecture systems make it dif- ficult to break through existing siloes. For example, video surveil- lance has its particular problems. Without the ability to securely and remotely access or share video feeds, organizations are spend- ing considerable amounts of time retrieving evidence and taking a more reactive approach to handling incidents. Internal conflicts only
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