Building the World’s Best Smart City for the Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO will host the 2020 Olympic Games. Since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Japan has achieved miraculous advancements in economic growth and infra- structure through the development and application of cutting-edge science and engineering technologies. During the 1970’s and 80’s, air pollution in Tokyo was a major problem, and I often returned disappointed from the blue skies of California. Since then Tokyo has become one of the largest and the most advanced cities in the world in areas such as: cleanliness, safety, dining, accommodation and transportation.
Japan is the world leader in utilizing energy efficiency for the purpose of developing GDP. The use of energy per GDP is less than half of the USA and 4.5 times less than China. Japan has advanced technologies for building a cleaner city.

Worldwide trends show increasing urbanization, meaning environmental issues are critical in large cities. In 2009, total energy use in China exceeded that of the USA. Many developing countries are sharply increasing their consumption of fossil fuels and putting greater stress on the
Earth.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be a great opportunity for Japan to build the city of the future and to demonstrate to the world that it is a smart city.

Building this smart city will require the development of two technologies:

Smart Grids:

A smart grid connects smart homes and buildings to transportation (including electric vehicles), renewable energy facilities, storage centers and more. The smart grid takes energy efficiency to the next level, facilitating the use of clean energy and reducing tremendous amounts of CO2 emissions as a result.

Networks and Big Data:

The smart city should provide what individuals need such as: financial services, shopping, transportation (including shared cars), lodging and multilingual communication services, all on an integrated ID. High-level security should prevent terrorism and other conflicts that might arise due to different cultures, religious and political disputes.

Japan should bring in some of the most advanced technology from around the world for the Olympics and integrate them to develop Tokyo into the best smart city in the world. This technology can also be used in other big cities to improve the quality of life for people around the world. tj

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