For City Life Beyond Borders

Urban development is always a challenge because road and utility networks have often grown organically over centuries. Digital networking was not envisaged at the time that this growth initially began. How far a city is on the way to becoming a smart city largely depends on how courageously the competent authorities act. At Stadtwerke München (Munich’s municipal utility company), Dr. Jörg Ochs and his team are not afraid to break new ground and think outside the box.

Smart city” – This magic word triggers wild associations: Even the most grounded contemporaries can at least conjure up ideas of automated infrastructures that relieve residents of many tedious tasks. No one has to put out the trash can or sweep the sidewalk anymore. The automated city will take care of that by itself, and citizens will actually only have to leave their homes to pursue pleasant recreational activities in the crystal-clear air. This idea will probably remain science fiction for a long time. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fascination of the topic, even if we are only approaching the goal with tiny steps.

All Cities Want to Become Smart

Ultimately, the smart city is based on the same fundamental idea as Industry 4.0 – just on a larger scale. Both ideas rise or fall with the networking infrastructure. Digitization and new technologies should lead to sustainable urban development that makes efficient use of ecological and social improvement potential. In the end, the overall concept encompasses as many areas of life as possible. This idea is so forward thinking that cities across nations, states, and cultures are working feverishly to expand their digital structures. One of the most well-known smart city developments is currently the new Egyptian administrative capital to the east of Cairo; the South Korean test-tube city of New Songdo City boasts the title of “smartest city in the world.”

Old Networks – New Networks

Many of these flagship projects were planned as smart cities on the drawing board. This, of course, makes things much easier because the foundations for the interconnected infrastructures can be laid before the construction of the first building even begins. Things look a little more difficult for most European cities. “The oldest parts of Munich’s water network are over 200 years old, and since then it has grown organically with the city,” says Dr. Jörg Ochs, head of IT at Stadtwerke München GmbH (Munich’s municipal utility company) and the driving force behind many digitization and network expansion projects in the Bavarian capital. “The situation is similar with the power grid. Our main challenge is therefore to make existing infrastructures ‘smart.’”