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Accelerating change: From smart city tosmart society As the world searches for ways to make urban areas more resilient, smartcity initiatives offer some of the answersO utbreaks of communicable disease have a long history of changing cities for the better. Londons sewer network was constructed following the cholera epidemic in the 1850s, and building ventilation standards improved after the Spanish flu in 1918. The current COVID-19 pandemic presents a similar whiteboard moment to accelerate the adoption of the best technology and infrastructure for modern cities. The smart city, a catch-all term used to describe how technology and data analytics can be harnessed to make cities more sustainable and efficient, is likely to have a profound influence on how policymakers and inhabitants reimagine urban spaces. A smart city approach has long been seen as a crucial tool for managing explosive population growth in cities. According to the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, more than half of the worlds population lives in towns and cities, afigure that could climb to close to 68percent by 2050. As city populations have swelled, so have their economic clout. By 2025, the worlds top 600cities are expected to account for 60 percent of global GDP , according toMcKinsey. Smart city developmentssuch as the giga projects under construction Accelerating change: From smart city to smart society The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed some of the shortcomings of major cities in times of crisis. As the world searches for ways to make urban areas more resilient, smart city initiatives offer some of the answers. Partners Oliver Brettle, Nicholas Greenacre, TimHickman, Andres Liivak, Daren Orzechowski and Adam Pierson of global law firmWhite the number and extent of applications implemented; and public awareness, usage and satisfaction with the applications 3The successful use of data and tracking personal devices for healthcare provision could be a turning point for the wider adoption of healthcare technology at scale. Applications of technology to manage COVID-19 demonstrate only a small picture of its potential. Expanding the use of wearable technology that tracks respiration, heart rate and temperature, for example, can enable early and personalized intervention for thousands of patients and improve resource allocation beyond times of crisis. Healthcare agencies, insurance companies and city authorities have seen how technology can be used to facilitate early intervention and improve service delivery, and may be ready to expand its adoption in day-to-day healthcare provision for the long-term. Urban mobility is another area where the benefits of smart city Telemedicine pilots are under way around the globe, and more than half of the cities examined have infectious disease surveillance Source: McKinsey Global Institute analysis Scaled Piloted/Moderate rollout Very low rollout or not available Rollout status of healthcare applications Number of cities (out of 50) Telemedicine Online care search andscheduling Real-time air quality information Infectious disease surveillance Lifestyle wearables Remote monitoring applications and medication adherence tools Data-based population healthinterventions First aid alerts Integrated patient flow management system Healthcare applications 9 2 39 7 31 12 40 3 7 42 7 1 28 9 13 22 23 5 16 17 17 30 16 4 24 22 4 approaches, adopted in direct response to containing COVID-19, could see a longer-term shift in city policy. In New Zealand, authorities have put funding in place to widen pavements and lay down “pop-up” bike lanes so that people can keep social distancing when walking around towns and cities; while in Oakland, California, 74miles of roads have been closed off to vehicles so that people can use streets to walk farther apart. Such initiatives have pointed toways in which urban mobility could change in the future, with potential to reduce congestion and improve airquality. Transport agencies also used passenger data to monitor lockdown compliance and model contact between people as part of the response to COVID-19. This provides tangible evidence of how data analytics can be leveraged for multiple applications, from the provision of personalized transport information to traffic and parking. Capturing this potential will come with legal complications, as in many jurisdictions data collected for one purpose cannot be retained for other uses without the data subjectsconsent. These obstacles aside, there are nevertheless compelling arguments for a complete rethink of the way city transport networks are operated and designed post-COVID-19. Collaboration The urgency of the battle against COVID-19 has also necessitated crossover between traditional public, and private sector siloes. Chicagos travel pattern tracking program, for example, was executed in partnership with BlueDot, a mobility data company, and there have been numerous examples of manufacturers overhauling production lines to make 4 In China alone, there are more than 100 cities with more than a million inhabitants 100Early indications show that on the whole, the global work- from-home experiment has been successful and will change attitudes to how companies manage staff, recruit and use office space medical equipment and buildings being repurposed asmedical facilities. The crisis may mark a mindset shift towards a multidisciplinary approach to finding the best solutions in urban management. Cross-sector cooperation between infrastructure, technology and mobility experts has long been viewed as key to smart city delivery. Technology, healthcare and automotive companies had already formed joint ventures in this spirit before COVID-19, but the strategic value of such partnerships has been underscored like never before. COVID-19 has fostered a renewed culture of collaboration and integration across industries, and the public and private sectors. This represents a unique window for bringing together best practices from across a range of disciplines to build and run better cities. Out of office The nature and location of work has been another area where COVID-19 has pushed companies and workers into new ways of working. Lockdowns around the world have forced people to work from home, accelerating the adoption and management of virtual meetings and remote working at an unprecedented scale. Early indications show that on the whole, the global work- from-home experiment has been successful and may change attitudes to how companies manage staff, recruit and use office space.Support teams have shown their ability to deliver support to workers remotely, making it possible to reduce desk space in expensive city center offices. Hot-desking and work weeks split between an office and home space may become more of the norm. Business travel could be profoundly impacted too now that workers have experienced the efficacy of videoconferencing software and various messaging and collaboration platforms, which may also be a way to reduce business costs and carbonfootprints. This long-term shift will require significant investment in telecoms and broadband infrastructure. In the UK, for example, internet service providers have seen double-digit increases in traffic during the lockdown, and streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ have cut bandwidth usage to clear network congestion. The gaps between city internet connection speeds and those in rural and peri- urban areas have also come to the fore. In the US, for example, cities Global urbanization rate, 1950 2050, percentage Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 1950 1970 1990 2015 2030 2050 29.6% 36.6% 53.9 % 60.4 % 68.4 % 43 % like New York and Washington, DC will typically enjoy connection speeds of up to 10gigabits per second, whereas users in Mississippi will have speeds as low as 1 .5 Mbps. Similar urban-rural connectivity divides are observed in the rest of the world too. Employers will generally remain legally responsible for ensuring the health and safety of their employees at work, even when that work is carried out at home. It is unlikely that it will be practicable for them to visit all their employees homes to carry out risk assessments, but 5 Accelerating change: From smart city to smart society Projected market value of business opportunities created by smart cities by 2025 Source: Frost & Sullivan US$1.56tnLON0420034_15 6 White & Case Smart city methods may provide new impetus to overcome sticking points that have hindered the uptake of digital tools to better run cities in the future there are things pretty much any employer can reasonably do, and more employers have been doing these things during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include, in particular, providing employees with the information, instruction and training they need to be able to carry out their own risk assessments of their home working environments, so that they can maintain a safe working environment for themselves. Employers can also check in with their employees regularly to ensure that they are carrying out these assessments and that they feel safe and comfortable working from home. English contract and employment law provides a robust platform for the governance of relationships between employers and their employees, which is sufficiently flexible to cope with the challenges of remote working for those in “white collar” work, when compared with the more rigid structures found in some other jurisdictions, which rely more on collective bargaining arrangements and labor protections that are suited to “blue collar” environments. The use of laws, which are largely based on English common law principles, has become widespread in free zones around the world and should particularly suit smart cities. Remote working is likely to form akey pillar of the labor landscape longafter the virus has come and gone, and will offer exciting commercial opportunities for workers, businesses and telecoms operators. Redefining “business as usual” The challenges and costs that come with turning old cities into smart ones have not changed over the past few months, but there is little doubt that COVID-19 has forced all stakeholders in society to reassess a “business as usual” approach to the running of urban areas. Leaders will be able to make IDCs Worldwide Smart Cities Spending Guide: Top five use cases by size Source: IDCs Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide, 2018H2 (May 2019) Note: Bubble size indicates relative spending share in 2018 better data-driven decisions and there is increasing recognition that the data and technology tools are there to better execute all aspects of city management. Towns and cities just need to invest in them. The human and economic impact of the virus has been immense, and the fallout has provided new impetus to overcome sticking points and vested interests that have hindered the uptake of digital tools to better run cities. Smart city methods have already shown their value in the immediate reaction to the fight against a global pandemic. Subsequent implementation will have benefits extending well beyond this, but proper design from the initial planning stage will be critical. Y oY Growth 2018 2019 CAGR 20182023 Intelligent traffic management Smart outdoor lighting Fixed visual surveillance Advanced public transit Smart grids0 Oliver Brettle Partner, London T +44 20 7532 2103 E Nicholas Greenacre Partner, London T +44 20 7532 2141 E TimHickman Partner, London T +44 20 7532 2517 E Andres Liivak Partner, New Y ork T +1 212 819 8411 E Daren Orzechowski Partner, Silicon Valley T +1 650 213 0355 E Adam Pierson Partner, Riyadh T +966 11 416 7331 E 2020 White & Case LLP White & Case means the international legal practice comprising White & Case LLP , a New York State registered limited liability partnership, White & CaseLLP , a limited liability partnership incorporated under English law, and all other affiliated partnerships, companies and entities. This article is prepared for the general information of interested persons. It is not, and does not attempt to be, comprehensive in nature. Due to the general nature of its content, it should not be regarded as legal advice
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