The Day Before Tomorrow Part 3 - the future of smart cities, communities & countries
The Drum's Day Before Tomorrow series exploring technological disruption continued last night with the third episode’s screening in London, looking at smart cities.
An audience including transport and travel professionals, architects, urban planners and environmental experts gathered to watch the programme, written and presented by The Drum’s head of TV Dave Birss.
The screening was followed by a panel debate featuring Matthew Griffin of Transport for London, Lewis Blackwell of The Building Centre, Nigel Vaz of SapientNitro and The Drum editor Gordon Young.
The film explored topics from how to create smart cities, communities and countries, how information sharing drives innovation, citizen empowerment and the role of government versus private sector.
“Being able to operate as a city requires us to innovate,” said Matthew Griffin during the panel session."
“London’s population is growing at the rate of 100,000 a year and there is huge pressure on our infrastructure.”
Nigel Vaz quoted research by Fiat using which suggested that if everyone in London drove digitally-enabled smaller cars and monitored driving behaviour using apps, £24 billion could be saved through improved fuel consumption, faster journey time and better air quality.
Huge challenges can be overcome by creating “near wins, to show people that small steps can build up to have a long term impact,” said Lewis Blackwell, adding: “We need to motivate individuals.”
One telling comment came from an audience member during open discussion: “This is our Industrial Revolution, and we have to learn how to cope with it.”
Other episodes in the series
Episode 1
The Day Before Tomorrow: Could technology one day replace doctors?
What would a future without real life doctors be like? Do technological advancements in medicine mean people will soon trust machines laden with data rather than humans?
Episode 2
Bringing education out of the Industrial age – The Day Before Tomorrow episode 2
The Drum's Day Before Tomorrow series has continued, with the second episode – Education - exploring how technology is disrupting the education sector.
Episode 4
The Day Before Tomorrow: How can we create entertainment content that allows us to participate even more?
The Drum's Day Before Tomorrow series of 30-minute films exploring technological disruption continued last night with the screening of the fourth episode in London, looking at entertainment.
Episode 5
The Day Before Tomorrow – how is technology disrupting money and what role will traditional banks play?
The Drum's Day Before Tomorrow documentary series continued tonight (11 November) with episode 5 – exploring how technology is disrupting money – debuting in London.
Episode 6
The Day Before Tomorrow: How can technology enable retailers to provide a consistent, innovative experience?
The Drum's Day Before Tomorrow documentary series exploring digital disruption wrapped up last night with the screening of the sixth and final episode, looking at disruptions and innovation in the retail sector.