theceomagazine.com | 105BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME
“Cities and businesses need to be competitive,
because they are in competition for skilled people,”
comments architect Malcolm Smith, the founding
director of the Integrated Urbanism unit at Arup,
London. Smith leads the design strategy on a wide
range of urban design projects such as the Stratford
City master plan in the UK, and the El Hassan
Science City in Jordan.
Beck agrees that attracting the best from a global
talent pool is a big benefit of new cities. “Smart
cities provide options like none other. Emerging
generations will want to be part of businesses that
are future ready.”
But with all this smart technology and
connectivity, does your global workforce even need
to relocate? Can’t everyone just work from home?
And won’t artificial intelligence (AI) mean robots will
do most of the jobs anyway?
“People are generally gregarious and want
to interact face-to-face,” notes Pearson.
“I believe the rise of AI will actually
mean humans will focus more
on the human side of work.
Administration and desk-based
work will be done by AI, and
humans will spend more time
on creating better emotional
connections as part of business.”
Smith places the social and
the human at the centre of his work.
“Workplaces are a place of colleagues
and informal interchange and some things
just won’t change. We enjoy relationships; we have
a social need for interaction. This should shape
workplaces, buildings, streets – everything.
“A place has to ‘feel’ a certain way. People
want to know there is a drycleaner nearby, and
the closest shop to get a great sandwich,” Smith
explains. “While new cities deliver quickly and
smartly, they can often feel generic. A city must
have authenticity and social infrastructures so you
don’t feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.
The buildings almost come last in planning, which
is how great cities are built.”
RISE OF THE MACHINES
But how ‘human’ can new cities be when there is
more AI than people? In October 2017, the Crown
Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced
the launch of NEOM. Backed by a US$500 billion
investment, NEOM will connect Asia, Europe
and Africa, and enable 70 per cent of the world’s
population to reach it within eight hours.
According to the website, all services and
processes at NEOM will be 100 per cent “fully
automated and handled by robots, which may
exceed the population, likely making NEOM’s
GDP per capita the highest in the world”.
Pearson believes that humans and AI will work
together in the cities of the future. “A lot of
administrative tasks have already been taken over
by AI – flight and hotel bookings for example.
Autonomous vehicles will replace taxi drivers, but
new jobs will be created to manage and maintain the
autonomous vehicles. Lots of AI will provide new
opportunities, and AI will be used to upskill people
and level the corporate playing field.”
New cities are not to be mistaken for utopias
though. There is a lot of concern among planners
that many of the new smart cities such as Gates’
Belmont will become havens for the rich.
“A city is only as successful as its most
vulnerable,” reminds Beck. “If we are
still leaving people behind than it’s
not ‘smart’.”A NEW SMART CITY CALLED
MAIDAR IS BEING BUILT SOUTH
OF MONGOLIA’S CAPITAL,
ULAANBAATAR, TO HELP EASE
SMOG AND TRAFFIC CONGESTION.
THE SYMBOL OF THE DESERT CITY
WILL BE THE WORLD’S LARGEST
BUDDHA STATUE.Smart builds | INNOVATE