How to build a smart city? See how Barcelona does it

   In the 3rd century BC, the Carthaginian conqueror Hamilcar Barca founded a city at the mouth of the Llobregat and Besos rivers. He named it Basino after his family. In the 15th century BC, the Romans conquered Basino and used it as a military base. Over time, Basino became Barcelona.

　　Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain with a population of 1.8 million. Barcelona is a compact city with a growing population. There are several factors that hinder normal life, such as:

　　traffic congestion

　　noise pollution

　　Poor drainage system

　　The local transportation system is not perfect

　　Inefficient waste management

　　Insufficient parking, etc.

　　In 2012, the Barcelona City Council found a solution to these problems in a project that had been started 30 years earlier. The project aimed to connect two municipal buildings with a fiber optic network. This inspired the idea of ​​building Smart City Barcelona. The technical infrastructure of Smart City Barcelona is built on this fiber optic network called Transversal. Currently, Barcelona has 500 kilometers of fiber optic cable!

　　Building Barcelona into a Smart City

　　So how was such an ambitious goal as transforming “Barcelona, ​​a “Heritage City” into “Barcelona, ​​a Smart City” achieved?

　　First, the Barcelona City Government divided the Smart City Barcelona project into 22 projects, including 83 individual small projects. These projects cover all aspects that hinder the normal life of Barcelona.

　　The idea of ​​Smart City Barcelona is that the city can act as a network of networks connected to each other. In this way, it can connect the different single networks in the city, such as transportation, pollution signs, technology, etc.

　　The Barcelona City Government has structured these different smart city projects on the following three technical layers:

　　Layer 1: Sensors sense activities in the environment

　　The government has installed a sensor platform called "Sentilo". Considering the potential of the platform, the city government has made the Sentilo platform open source and the repository is available on Github. This will enable anyone in the world to use this platform to create their own applications.

　　According to the project requirements, sensors are deployed in various corners of the city. These sensors are used to monitor environmental changes, such as changes in pollution levels in a specific area.

　　Layer 2: City Operating System

　　The City OS is key to unlocking the benefits of IoT related to data analytics and predictive modeling. It aggregates data from various city applications and Sentilo and analyzes that data. For example, using data collected from Sentilo on pollution levels, the City OS can create a graphical visualization. It can also predict pollution levels for the rest of the week. This mechanism helps the Pollution Control Board take proactive measures.

　　Layer 3: Service layer for data sharing

　　Layer 3 is a service layer for sharing data and analysis collected from the city operating system layer. This data can be used by the public to improve city services and operations. For example, using the data and predictions available from the city operating system layer, an application developer can create a mobile application that alerts users to pollution levels and recommends appropriate measures

  .

　　traffic system

　　The Metropolitan Transport of Barcelona (TMB) has introduced an innovative orthogonal bus network (horizontally, vertically and diagonally) using hybrid buses. The introduction of this system has resulted in faster buses, more frequent services and greater accessibility.

　　The goal of TMB's orthogonal bus network is to ensure that passengers can transfer between any two points with only one transfer 95% of the time during their journey. To achieve this goal, TMB has a total of 16 orthogonal bus lines, ensuring that all areas of Barcelona are covered. This improved geographical coverage means that no place in the city is more than 400 meters away from the nearest bus stop.

Barcelona local hybrid buses

Orthogonal transportation network

Smart bus stop powered by solar energy, showing waiting time on touch screen

　　Influence

　　The frequency of buses has increased from every 12 minutes to every 5 minutes.

　　Travellers can reach any place in Barcelona within 40 minutes.

　　Passengers can save about 10 million hours per year

　　CO2 emissions reduced by 5,000 tons per year

   Construction costs were recovered in just 2 years through reduced operating costs (Construction costs: €17 million. Annual operating cost savings: €8.8 million)

  Rainwater collection system

　　While many countries around the world are still worried about how to provide their citizens with quality drinking water, Barcelona is already far ahead. It is now thinking about providing its citizens with quality water for bathing!

　　Like all coastal cities, Barcelona is threatened by sewage discharge. Barcelona City Council proposed a large-scale project to build 33 underground collection tanks with a total capacity of 1,168,900 cubic meters. These collection tanks have 18 gates and are controlled by remote control stations.

Rainwater collection tank

　　Influence

　　The catchment basins have prevented more than 940 tonnes of suspended solids from entering the sea.

　　It saves 3.7 million cubic meters of rainwater from flowing into the sea every year.

　　Barcelona is now a city with strong flood prevention and drainage capabilities.

　　Bicycle sharing system

　　Barcelona City Council introduced a bicycle sharing system called Bicing, which aims to provide a sustainable mode of transportation and solve traffic congestion problems.

　　Bicing is a street-level scheme available all year round. Riders unlock bicycles using a radio frequency identification (RFID) card. Riders can use the same bicycle for up to two hours at a time, after which they will be fined. There are 420 Bicing stations in the city, each with 20 bicycles. Each station is located near public transport stops, making it easy for passengers to transfer between different modes of transport.

　　Bicing’s parking and usage system is connected to a central server and management system that allows operators to keep tabs on which bikes are parked where and who is using them. Likewise, by using the Bicing mobile app, users can see which bike stations have bikes available for rent and where the parking spots are.

Bicing Station

Bike stations in and around Barcelona

　　Influence

　　99600 users

　　On average, each bike is used 5 times a day, or 1.4 million trips a month

　　The average usage time is 13 minutes

　　Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4,000 tons per year

　　Power generation and distribution networks

　　In order to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels for electricity generation and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the Barcelona City Council, together with other private institutions, built two power generation units in the Forum (a city hall & exhibition hall) and the 22@ district (a small town).

　　The power plants use steam from burning municipal waste in waste treatment plants to generate energy. The energy generated during low demand seasons is stored using an advanced ice storage system. The electricity generated by these power plants is distributed to high-rise buildings in various areas through a network of pre-installed hot and cold water pipe systems.

　　Influence

　　Reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation reduced by 22%

　　Reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 17,000 tons per year

　　Barcelona City Government has also taken many other measures to improve the quality of life in the city. The Smart City Barcelona project not only generates revenue for the city government, but also creates 47,000 new jobs for citizens.

   While countries around the world are highly skeptical about accepting and using the Internet of Things, Barcelona has demonstrated the economic significance of smart cities in terms of increasing revenue, reducing unemployment, and addressing larger issues like pollution and global warming.