Sustainable Cities : Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and the Rise of Green, “Cy-phy” Cities

Global cities are facing an almost unprecedented challenge of change. As they re-emerge from the Covid 19 pandemic and get ready to face climate change and other, potentially existential threats, they need to look for new ways to support wealth and wellbeing creation -- leveraging Big Data and AI and suing them into their physical reality and to become greener, more inclusive and resilient, hence sustainable. This book describes how new digital technologies could be used to design digital and physical twins of cities that are able to feed into each other to optimize their working and ability to create new wealth and wellbeing. The book also describes how to increase cities' social and economic resilience during crisis time and addressing their almost fatal weaknesses -- as it became all too obvious during the recent COVID 19 crisis. Also, the book presents a framework for a critical discussion of the concept of "smart-city," suggesting its development into a "cyber" and "meta" one -- meaning, not only digital systems can allow physical ones (e.g. cities, citizens, households and companies) to become "smarter" but also the vice versa is true, as off line data and real life behaviours can support the optimization and development of virtual brains as a sum of big data and artificial intelligence apps all sitting "over the cloud." An analysis of the fundamental dynamics of this emerging "info-telligence" economy, and of the potential role of big digital players like Amazon, Google and Facebook is then paving the way to discuss a few strategic forays on how traditional sectors such as financial services, real estate, TMT or health could also evolve, leveraging Big Data and AI in a cyber-physical integrated setting. Finally, a number of thought provoking use cases that could be designed around individuals, and to improve the success and the resilience of households and companies living and working in urban areas are discussed, as an example of one of the most exciting future markets to come: the one of global, sustainable cities Foreword Contents Chapter 1: From Smart to Meta Cities 1.1 Towards ``Other Normals ́ ́ 1.2 Second Sleep 1.3 If Smart Is Not Enough 1.4 From Smart to Cyber Cities 1.5 Beauty, with a Purpose 1.6 Cyber Cities Are Not for Cyborgs 1.7 Death of the Smartphone 1.8 From Cyber to Meta Cities 1.9 A ``Cy-Phy ́ ́ Humanism References Chapter 2: A Cy-Phy and Fairer Economy 2.1 Digital Is Passé, Without Physical 2.2 Close Twins 2.3 Alice ́s Mirror 2.4 Digital and Physical-Digital 2.5 Socially Acceptable Hence Sustainable 2.6 Harnessing Data for the Common Good 2.7 Smart, Cyber, and Meta Cities at the Time of COVID-19 2.8 Fair Use, Fair Trade 2.9 Big, Digital, and Smart 2.10 Data Traders and Arbitrageurs 2.11 Fair Digital in Fair Cities 2.12 Death of Cities? References Chapter 3: Info-telligence in the City 3.1 Info-telligence in the City 3.2 The Economics of Info-telligence 3.3 Data Are (Almost) Unique 3.4 Attention and Intelligence Utilities 3.5 The Risk of Being ``Big Digital ́ ́ 3.6 A ``Physical ́ ́ Missing Point 3.7 Death of the Smartphone 3.8 Architectural Evolution and the Redesign of the City 3.9 Where Would the Intelligence Sit 3.10 Geopolitical Implications References Chapter 4: Sustainable Cities and Climate Change 4.1 Getting Hot 4.2 Sustainable Cities 4.3 It ́s All About Carbon (Dioxide)? 4.4 An Anthropological Phenomenon 4.5 The Risk for the City 4.6 AI and the Search for Serviceable Truths 4.7 It ́s All About (Climate) Risk Management 4.8 Green Is the Color of Money 4.9 A Big Data Approach for Climate Change 4.10 Green to Death 4.11 A Carbon Tax or a Green Derivative? 4.12 Credibility Matters 4.13 Climate Matters 4.14 Climate Conscience 4.15 An Anthropological Challenge References Chapter 5: Our ``Other Normal ́ ́ 5.1 The Day After 5.2 The Death (and Rebirth) of the Office 5.3 Social (Distance) in the City 5.4 Locking Down 5.5 Unlocking 5.6 Restart in a Post COVID-19 World 5.7 Creative Destruction at the Time of the Coronavirus 5.8 Public Good 5.9 Finance, Real Estate, and Sustainable Cities References Chapter 6: The Rise of the Cy-Phy Company 6.1 Smart, Cyborg, and Singularity Driven 6.2 The Advent of the Cy-Phy Bank 6.3 Singularly Cyber-Physical Bank 6.4 A Digital Wealth-Being Manager 6.5 A Data Bank Is Already Here (and Is Worth Billions) 6.6 A Star Is Born 6.7 From Dumb Money to Dumb Cables 6.8 Cy-Phy in the TMT Industry 6.9 At Your (Digital) Health 6.10 Poor Patient 6.11 Googling ``Health ́ ́ 6.12 Healthcare of One 6.13 An eHealth Wallet for Sustainable Cities 6.14 Strategic Forays in AI-Based Use Cases 6.15 Serviceable Truth References Chapter 7: Investing in Real Estate: BC/AC 7.1 Real Estate BC/AC 7.2 This Time Will Be Different 7.3 The Journey and the Destination 7.4 Financialization Ahead 7.5 A Geopolitical Play 7.6 The Role of the State in Real Estate BC 7.7 The Role of the State in Real Estate AC 7.8 A Private Equity Opportunity for Everybody 7.9 From the 15 Minute City to the Integrated Building 7.10 New Paradigms for Real Estate Investing References Chapter 8: Open Data in Open Cities 8.1 Electrifying Future 8.2 Open Data Revolution 8.3 Going Soft 8.4 Open Cities, Open Companies 8.5 The Real Risk in Front of Us 8.6 Towards a New Model for Cities 8.7 The Leopard on Mars 8.8 A Bit of Clouds Could Help 8.9 Defining Moment 8.10 Cities as the ``Cy-Phy ́ ́ Platforms of the Future 8.11 Conclusion: From Smart to Sustainable Cities References Chapter 9: Finance, Real Estate, and the ``Smart City ́ ́ Challenge in Milan Area: Toward a Sustainable Future? 9.1 Finance Role in the City ́s Development 9.2 Big Data ́s Role in Real Estate 9.3 Real Estate Transformation: From a Product-Centered to a Customer-Centered Industry 9.4 The Sustainability Paradigm 9.5 Milan and the Smart-City Challenge Overview Opportunities Challenges and Recommendations Appendix: Behind the High-Tech Curtains of a Sustainable City SCaaS: Sustainable City as a Service and Open Data Edge Computing and Augmented Reality as Personal Shoppers Weather of Things to Produce Healthy Food Being at Madison Square Garden While Being at Home Air Delivery and Inspection