Many existing smart city solutions only show the impact of urban development, but few show the impact that urbanisation imposes on daily activities and long-term outcomes such as population obesity and job availability/accessibility. In short, such solutions show the activities e.g. large crowds are visiting the neighbourhood park, that are happening in real-time (what), the location (where), and the time that they occur (when), but do not have the ability to include data that makes it possible to explain the reason for such activities (why). In order to bring about any intervention or identify missed opportunities, understanding the reason behind such activity is vital.
This technology utilises data on city infrastructure systems to help users understand how and where the built environment creates a set of physical constraints that influence what planned and unplanned activities are possible, and in turn how this influences long term outcomes including health and climate change. This technology imports, translates and combines datasets into spatialised models which are used to generate analytics outputs. These outputs include a comprehensive explanation of the way streets, pedestrian networks, public transport and land use interact with each other. In this manner, socio-economic and/or demographic datasets can be linked, enabling people and places to be combined in a single analytical model.
This technology is able to explain where, and why people are more likely to walk, cycle, take public or private transport, where footfall will be distributed and whether people can access the services they need (and the quality and capacity of the services they can get to). It shows how all city infrastructure systems combine from the point of view of a person to make cities walkable or car dependent. Additionally, it can plan the most efficient routes to connect multiple points in a city. It has been applied to design and planning industry but has the potential for other application areas:
Healthcare preventative strategies (population level and individual level):
Logistics, last-mile deliveries:
This technology has been used to support public and private sectors. It helps decision making in investment, planning, and behaviour change interventions. It also helps property owners to identify whether they are making full use of their assests, and supports private sector companies who offer place-based services, such as urban mobility, delivery of goods/services or logistics which require the linkage of people-to-places.
Potential benefits include, but are not limited to: