Tuesday                     Community life                            digital services      transportation systems
25 July
                            healthcare                                environmental issues                  drug and food safety
  2017

 B

JING鈥橝N                     The brain center
                            of the smart city

                            Jing鈥檃n is a leader in transforming how urban areas function

                            Li Qian                                   Shanghai鈥檚 ambitions.                 are alerted, but by the time fire-
                                                                         The district is home to the        fighters arrive, the smoke may have
                            Shanghai ranks among the                                                        erupted into a fire.
                                     leading urban areas of the       Shanghai Data Exchange, China鈥檚
                                     world in pioneering the          leading big data center. It can          鈥淲hat if smoke sensors can
                                     concept of 鈥渟mart cities.鈥?It鈥檚  handle an average 30 million pieces   automatically upload data to the
                             a term that sounds futuristic, but       of data every day. This month,        platform and alarm tenants, land-
                             few residents understand what im-        Jing鈥檃n was designated as an 鈥渆x-     lords and authorities once smoke
                             pact it may have on their lives and      perimental district鈥?to spearhead     reaches a certain limited level?鈥?                             the lives of coming generations.         Shanghai鈥檚 smart city comprehen-      Tang said. 鈥淔irefighters can arrive
                                                                      sive plan.                            in time to prevent a fire breaking
                                In smart cities, technology, data                                           out.鈥?                             collection, infrastructure and              鈥淚t鈥檚 really a big step forward,鈥?                             services are connected in what is        said Tang Qifeng, chief executive of     He cites another example. A
                             commonly called the Internet of          the exchange. 鈥淭he smart city is no   bridge, he said, could be placed
                             Things. That means the digital age       doubt the highland of innovation.     under sensor monitoring that will
                             will play a role in how home appli-      This is not just a great honor for    tell authorities every time an over-
                             ances operate, in how traffic flow       Jing鈥檃n, but also a testament to how  loaded vehicle passes. That way,
                             is directed, in how children are         Shanghai鈥檚 innovative policies will   the risk of bridge collapses can be
                             educated, in how we shop, in how         influence the globe landscape of      avoided.
                             fields are sown and in how goods         the future.鈥?                             are marketed.                                                                     The second tier of the city鈥檚 plan
                                                                         Tang, the man behind the           involves transmission networks,
                                Everything about our lives will be    blueprint, said the city government   also known as 鈥渕etropolitan area
                             connected for optimum efficiency         has outlined a four-tier approach to  networks.鈥?                             and convenience.                         becoming a smart city.
                                                                                                               According to Tang, China leads
                                Smart cities need smart brains,          A sensor network of data collec-   the world in terms of network
                             and Jing鈥檃n easily qualifies as the      tion is at the base, he said. Take    speeds and capacity.
                             pre-eminent 鈥済ray matter鈥?for            fire as one example. Today, if
                                                                      smoke appears in a room, residents    CONTINUES ON B2

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