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* By Débora Morales
Many cities define themselves as smart when they identify characteristics of connectivity, digital inclusion, workforce and knowledge. Through innovative applications and technologies, they support community sharing involving cumulative elements, such as governance, mobility, intelligent use of natural resources, citizens and the economy. Due to the dynamics of space restrictions and high population density, cities are naturally designed to share savings with consumption. However, if their improvements are sectoral or limited, they cannot be called smart.
The transformation of cities into smart ones benefits the use of urban resources such as space, transport, services, food, goods and money. And the shared economy allows the use of these resources in a collaborative way, defining a socioeconomic model that allows the use of underutilized assets, in a system in which supply and demand interact for a better offer of products and services.
On the supply side, individuals can offer things like short-term rentals of their idle vehicles or extra rooms in their apartments or houses. On the demand side, consumers can benefit from renting goods at a lower price or with lower transaction costs than buying or renting through a traditional provider. And this sharing, facilitated by technology and the internet, is already a reality: Airbnb, Snap-Goods, Uber and RealyRides are examples of connections that unlock the value inherent in sharing spare resources on platforms and offer many advantages to attract both groups through network effects.
Through technology, sharing the economy provides the basis for these innovations in an immediate way, contributing to a city becoming intelligent. With a significant technological infrastructure, the way resources are shared is transformed, with human capital being highlighted in this scenario, since the intelligence of cities takes into account, above all, the well-being of society. Thus, citizens can lead creative lives, although they still encounter a barrier to the long-awaited revolution: trust.
Although a smart city is made for the citizen, its innovation comes up against it. Among all other human factors, trust is the most important challenge of the shared economy, since it is a system dependent on other users.
To successfully achieve this idea, an alternative would be the use of blockchain technology, as being “free from trust” is a central feature of individuals' relationships in the block-based approach. By eliminating intermediaries, reducing operating costs and increasing the efficiency of a sharing service, individuals have autonomy over the records of each transaction carried out, which are inserted in the network.
In sharing services, trust is not placed on an individual, but distributed across the population. The use of central authorities is replaced by a community of peers in the form of a peer-to-peer network. Therefore, no one can take action unilaterally on behalf of the community and the sharing services end up being democratized and free of trust. In this case, the software can automate much of the transaction process, allowing contractual promises to be applied without human involvement. Simple. Practical. Safe. And so, really smart cities.
* Débora Morales has a master's degree in Production Engineering (UFPR) in the area of Operational Research with an emphasis on statistical methods applied to engineering and innovation and technology, a specialist in Reliability Engineering (UTFPR), graduated in Statistics and Economics. Acts as a statistician at the Instituto das Cidades Inteligentes (ICI).
Disclaimer: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies.
The transformation of cities into smart ones benefits the use of urban resources such as space, transport, services, food, goods and money. And the shared economy allows the use of these resources in a collaborative way, defining a socioeconomic model that allows the use of underutilized assets, in a system in which supply and demand interact for a better offer of products and services.
On the supply side, individuals can offer things like short-term rentals of their idle vehicles or extra rooms in their apartments or houses. On the demand side, consumers can benefit from renting goods at a lower price or with lower transaction costs than buying or renting through a traditional provider. And this sharing, facilitated by technology and the internet, is already a reality: Airbnb, Snap-Goods, Uber and RealyRides are examples of connections that unlock the value inherent in sharing spare resources on platforms and offer many advantages to attract both groups through network effects.
Through technology, sharing the economy provides the basis for these innovations in an immediate way, contributing to a city becoming intelligent. With a significant technological infrastructure, the way resources are shared is transformed, with human capital being highlighted in this scenario, since the intelligence of cities takes into account, above all, the well-being of society. Thus, citizens can lead creative lives, although they still encounter a barrier to the long-awaited revolution: trust.
Although a smart city is made for the citizen, its innovation comes up against it. Among all other human factors, trust is the most important challenge of the shared economy, since it is a system dependent on other users.
To successfully achieve this idea, an alternative would be the use of blockchain technology, as being “free from trust” is a central feature of individuals' relationships in the block-based approach. By eliminating intermediaries, reducing operating costs and increasing the efficiency of a sharing service, individuals have autonomy over the records of each transaction carried out, which are inserted in the network.
In sharing services, trust is not placed on an individual, but distributed across the population. The use of central authorities is replaced by a community of peers in the form of a peer-to-peer network. Therefore, no one can take action unilaterally on behalf of the community and the sharing services end up being democratized and free of trust. In this case, the software can automate much of the transaction process, allowing contractual promises to be applied without human involvement. Simple. Practical. Safe. And so, really smart cities.
* Débora Morales has a master's degree in Production Engineering (UFPR) in the area of Operational Research with an emphasis on statistical methods applied to engineering and innovation and technology, a specialist in Reliability Engineering (UTFPR), graduated in Statistics and Economics. Acts as a statistician at the Instituto das Cidades Inteligentes (ICI).
Disclaimer: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies.
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