USE OF INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The concept „smart planet” refers at intelligence which is being infused into the systems and processes and makes the world work better. We think that smarter means to infused intelligence into things which no one would recognize as computers: cars, appliances, roadways, even natural systems such as agriculture and waterways. To build a smart planet must to start from three main ideas: instrument the world’s systems, interconnect the world’s systems and make the world’s systems intelligent. This paper analysis where we can use the smart systems in our city and if these are a significant part of future locality development.smart solutions, smart planet, smart locality, urban development.

Smart Urbanization – Key to Sustainable Cities

Urbanisation is a major change taking place globally. It is estimated that 500 million people will be urbanised by 2030 which is around 60% of the world’s population will be living in cities. Cities fuel economic development through mobilizing capital, work force, knowledge/information and technology and offer better chances of wealth generation, better health facilities, education and a good quality of life with better services and facilities. This has led to the increase in “megacities” (urban areas with a population of 10 million or more) and primate cities (leading cities in the region disproportionately larger than others in the urban hierarchy) across the globe. Urbanization propelled by economic reforms are putting cities under perpetual pressure of population concentration and energy intensive growth model. The cities are often confronted with a multitude of key problems like high urban densities, traffic congestion, energy inadequacy, unplanned development and lack of basic services. Due to high land values, migrants often have no choice but to settle in shantytowns and slums, where they lack access to decent housing and sanitation, health care and education thus adding to urban poverty. Urbanisation is also contributing significantly to climate change as 20 largest cities consume 80% of the world’s energy and urban areas generate 80% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The challenges of rapid urbanisation are to deal with the social, economic and environment development through more effective and comprehensive land administration functions, supported by efficient per capita infrastructure supply , resolving issues such as climate change, disaster management, insecurity, energy scarcity, environmental pollution, and extreme poverty. Urbanization must be able to support urban planning to achieve sustainable development in order to meet the growing energy and housing demands, reliable public transportation systems and be able to meet essential urban services without putting pressure on resources. Therefore it needs to support innovative urban planning policies and strategies beyond traditional urban planning paradigms. Urbanisation on the positive side provides an unparalleled urban planning opportunity to pre-address social and environmental problems, including reduction of greenhouse gas emissions combined with the retrofitting and upgrading of facilities and networks in existing urban centres, as well as smart urban planning of cities can provide better education, healthcare and high-quality energy services more efficiently and with less emissions because of their advantages of scale, proximity and lower geographic footprints. Thus “Smart Urbanisation” is the key to safer cities of tomorrow. Building cities sustainably using smart growth principles, compact development planning form, using eco-city concepts, concept of low carbon electricity ecosystem etc, provides an opportunity to avoid future sources of greenhouse emissions, while developing more liveable and efficient urban centres. It could also alleviate population pressure on natural habitats and biodiversity thus reducing the risks to natural disasters. High-level integration of existing technologies to deliver a smart energy network, enhanced electricity transmission, energy efficient transportation, and low carbon building footprints, will make it easier to manage the unfolding urbanisation, and could have much positive impact on energy use and consumption. Policy interventions and government investments are important determining tools to its success. This paper attempts to discuss the principles of “smart urbanisation” in light of sustainable cities of tomorrow

Business begins at home

One of the most significant trends in the post-industrial era has been for the home to become an important focus for work. The boundaries between work and home are now increasingly blurred, reversing the forces of the industrial era in which places deemed suitable for each were clearly demarcated and physically separate. The most recent published figures available from the Labour Force Survey (2005)1 indicate that 3.1m people now work mainly from home, 11% of the workforce. This represents a rise from 2.3m in 1997 (9% of the workforce), a 35% increase. The majority of homeworkers (2.4m or 77% of the total) are 'teleworkers' – people who use computers and telecommunications to work at home. The number of teleworkers has increased by 1.5m between 1997 and 2005, a 166% increase. Clearly, it is the growth in the number of teleworkers which is driving the increase in homeworking

Saving the future: Steele Rudd and Macgregor Professorial Lecture, 21 April 2010 [Speech]

In his speech titled ‘Saving the Future’, Professor Cole will propose that a revolution which puts sustainability front and centre is needed to turn around this unmitigated environmental catastrophe. 'If we are to save our future and that of generations to come, we will need more than new laptops in the classroom. With close to two thirds of the Earth’s ecosystems already seriously degraded and climate change and loss of biodiversity emerging threats to life as we know it, the 21st century will be lived in a very different way. 'Sooner rather than later, we will have to deal fundamentally with the discipline of living within the limits of the planet’s capacity to sustain life. The biggest question of our time is can we live sustainably and the biggest question facing universities is can we research and educate people on how to live sustainably

Political Economy Analysis for Development Effectiveness

{Excerpt} Political economy embraces the complex political nature of decision making to investigate how power and authority affect economic choices in a society. Political economy analysis offers no quick fixes but leads to smarter engagement. Economics—the social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of material wealth and with the theory and management of economic systems or economies—was once called political economy. Anchored in moral philosophy, thence the art and science of government, this articulated the belief in the 18th–19th centuries that political considerations—and the interest groups that drive them—have primacy in determining influence and thus economic outcomes at (almost) any level of investigation. However, with the division of economics and political science into distinct disciplines from the 1890s, neoclassical economists turned from analyses of power and authority to models that, inherently, remove much complexity from the issues they look into

Smarter greener cities through a social-ecological-technological systems approach

Publisher Copyright: © 2022Smart city development is expanding rapidly globally and is often argued to improve urban sustainability. However, these smart developments are often technology-centred approaches that can miss critical interactions between social and ecological components of urban systems, limiting their real impact. We draw on the social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) literature and framing to expand and improve the impact of smart city agendas. A more holistic systems framing can ensure that ‘smart’ solutions better address sustainability broadly and extend to issues of equity, power, agency, nature-based solutions and ecological resilience. In this context, smart city infrastructure plays an important role in enabling new ways of measuring, experiencing and engaging with local and temporal dynamics of urban systems. We provide a series of examples of subsystems interactions, or ‘couplings’, to illustrate how a SETS approach can expand and enhance smart city infrastructure and development to meet normative societal goals.Peer reviewe

Climate of the nation 2013: Australian attitudes on climate change

This report argues that a growing majority of Australians think that their country should be a leader in finding climate solutions. Executive summary Since 2007, The Climate Institute has conducted comprehensive research into Australian attitudes to climate change and related policies. We have published a number of Climate of the Nation reports tracking attitudes and actions as they have evolved. This year’s report builds off a quantitative poll conducted in early June and rolling qualitative research over the last 12 months. The 2012 research was conducted in the heat of the toxic and speculative debate leading up to the introduction of the carbon laws. A year later we find that two-thirds of Australians think that climate change is occurring and almost all of them believe that it is impacting Australia now. People are genuinely worried about the cost impacts of extreme weather and climate change on everyday concerns such as crop production and food supply, insurance premiums, water shortages and climate refugees. Climate change is not perceived as a major issue in this election, but it is also clear that there is no basis from which to call the election a “referendum on the carbon tax”. Only around a third of Australians think that the carbon laws should be repealed and more oppose a double dissolution to get rid of them than support one. The “carbon tax” itself is not a major reason for supporting a Coalition vote. “Economic mismanagement”, “lies and incompetence” and the “carbon tax lie” are cited as far stronger reasons. Opposition to carbon pricing is dropping. While support remains soft, it strengthens significantly when the policy is explained. This matches the findings of other recent polls. A year into the laws, there is evidence that Australians do not believe that carbon pricing has been as financially detrimental as they anticipated. This holds true at both the household and national level. While a smaller majority still think they are worse off, those that think they are much worse off has dropped significantly. Overall, cynicism and confusion about carbon pricing is still dominant. But it is decreasing, perhaps because of some recognition of declining national emissions and increased renewable energy investment since the start of the laws. Today, more people want to give carbon pricing a go than get rid of it. Indeed, more Australians want greater action and leadership than in recent years. This is a departure from a year ago, when Climate of the Nation 2012 found an electorate that was largely fatigued with the politics of climate change and scared about the rising costs of living. This year the number of those agreeing that Australia should be a world leader in finding solutions to climate change is significantly higher, and in fact higher than in April 2010, immediately prior to the deferral of emissions trading legislation. Despite the toxic politics, 60 per cent still think the Federal Government should be playing a leading role. Only 6-8 per cent of Australians believe that local, state or federal government should take no action. Strong majorities recognise that doing nothing on climate change will increase the risks and that there are economic opportunities in acting in areas like renewable energy. Significantly, appreciation of the economic benefits and jobs associated with a strong renewable energy industry is not contingent on acceptance of climate change, or even that humans are responsible for it. Despite some attacks on renewable energy, wind in particular, there is overwhelming support for renewables. That enthusiasm is high across ALP, Green and Coalition voters. Support this year is even stronger for wind and solar as preferred energy sources. Support for both nuclear and coal has declined, while Australians remain divided over gas. Results from the focus groups and national poll behind Climate of the Nation 2013 indicate a clear acceptance that climate change is happening and that humans are contributing to it. Twice as many trust the science than don’t. There remains confusion about carbon pricing, however, and most Australians still believe that there are too many conflicting claims amongst scientists for the public to be certain. This is despite the fact that 97 per cent of published climate research accepts the science¹. Almost as many think the seriousness of climate change is exaggerated as do not. Notwithstanding these differences of opinion, the underlying call for climate action is relatively resilient. It may grow stronger after the election, with the issue of the “carbon tax lie” resolved along with an emerging understanding of reduced emissions, increasing renewable energy investment and growing international carbon and clean energy policies

Sharpening the Cutting Edge: Corporate Action for a Strong, Low-Carbon Economy

Outlines lessons learned from early efforts to create a low-carbon economy, current and emerging best practices, and next steps, including climate change metrics, greenhouse gas reporting, effective climate policy, and long-term investment choices

Service Innovation as a Drive for Competitiveness

Diplomová práce představuje paradigmata servisně orientované ekonomiky z hlediska konkurenceschopnosti firmy. Zaměřuje se na konkurenční výhody, kterých lze dosáhnout nebo podporovat rozvojem služeb. Teoretický základ prezentuje specifika a význam sektoru služeb v současných nejvyspělejších ekonomikách. Jmenuje hlavní konkurenční strategie používané v sektoru služeb a srovnává je se zažitými strategiemi známými z produktově orientované ekonomiky. Práce blíže analyzuje metody rozvoje služeb ve společnosti IBM GSDC Brno v oblasti globalních IT služeb. Pojednává o hlavních problémech spojených s jejich inovací a zároveň naznačuje současné a budoucí trendy v oblasti IT služeb. V praktické návrhové části jsou prezentovány nové přístupy k rozvoji služeb, které by mohly podpořit konkurenceschopnost firmy na globálním trhu služeb.The master thesis discusses the service-oriented economy paradigms with the focus on the company’s competitiveness. Specifically it points at the competitive advantages which can be achieved or promoted through service innovation. The theoretical background demostrates the specifics and the importance of services in today`s leading economies. It shows the competitive strategies used in service companies and compares them with the known strategies defined for and used in product-oriented economy. The thesis analyzes more closely the service innovation methods used by the IBM GSDC Brno company in the global IT services area. It indicates and discusses the main problems of service innovation which can hinder the competitive advantage development as well as the current and future trends in the IT services sector. As a result the thesis proposes the improved approaches to service innovation which can lead to better competitiveness on the global service marketplace.