From intelligent building to smart city - A case study

Abstract

This paper is to provide some insights to professionals on the evolution of smart city, to present its concept and appropriate elements based on the author’s 40+ years of experience in international building development projects.
With the oil crisis in the 1970s, the use of alternative energy sources such as solar energy and energy saving measures were explored to combat the threat of fossil fuel supply. The concept of intelligent building to improve the productivity of the occupants and energy saving was then emerged in 1980s, followed by the focusing of the built environment like green building and sustainable construction in the 1990s. Various metrics were developed by different countries for assessing green building provisions e.g. LEED in a more structure manner. Building resilience has recently become popular for abating the increasing natural disasters. The features of intelligent building, green resilient building and smart city will be illustrated by making references to developments which were designed and project managed by the author.
On a more macro scale, with the rapid advancement of ICT in recent years, the concept of smart city has been advocated. The various definitions of smart city would first be depicted. Based on these definitions, the attributes of smart building and the respective features were suggested. The appraisal of the designed provisions of a mixed development project in Southeast Asia was then illustrated with suggestions on further elements to enhance its smart city characteristics.