Shining Cities on a Smarter Planet

If someone had been able to go into orbit around the Earth a century ago, he or she would have seen the light from 16 concentrations of a million or more people. Today, the crew of the space shuttle can see 450 such shining cities on the globe -- the economic, governmental, cultural and technological power plants of an increasingly urban age.

It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that "history" has been, at root, the story of our planet's urbanization. And it's a story that is now moving a lot faster. In 1900, only 13 percent of the world's population lived in cities. Two years ago, we crossed a threshold -- for the first time ever, more than half of us were urban dwellers. And by 2050, that number will rise to 70 percent. We are adding the equivalent of seven New Yorks to the planet every year.

This unprecedented urbanization is both an emblem of our economic and societal progress -- especially for the world's emerging nations -- and a huge strain on the planet's infrastructure. It's a challenge felt urgently by mayors, heads of economic development, school administrators, police chiefs and other civic leaders. The challenges these leaders face -- educating their young, keeping citizens safe and healthy, attracting and facilitating commerce and enabling the smooth flow of planes, trains, cars and pedestrians -- are only being compounded by the global downturn.

Thankfully, help is at hand, with intelligence being infused into the way cities work. It has tended to be been system-by-system so far, but it need not stop there. We now have the capacity to manage cities as the complex systems -- indeed, systems-of-systems -- that they are. And the current crisis in the world's economy offers an opportunity -- indeed, I believe, an imperative -- to do just that.

Look at the capabilities already being built into cities around the world. Transportation officials in Singapore, Brisbane and Stockholm are using smart systems to reduce both congestion and pollution. Public safety administrators in major cities like New York and Chicago are able not only to solve crimes and respond to emergencies, but to help prevent them. A large hospital organization in Paris is implementing an integrated patient-care management solution to facilitate seamless communication across its business applications -- enabling them to track every stage of a patient's stay in the hospital.

Miami-Dade County has built a transparent management system that helps identify and restructure low-performing schools and increase academic achievement for students. Smart water management in the Paraguay-Paraná River Basin of Brazil is helping to improve water quality for São Paulo's 17 million residents. In Malta, the government is implementing the first countrywide, integrated smart water and electricity system to monitor and manage natural resources more intelligently, and at the same time enable its citizens to make energy choices that are more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. In Denmark, Dong Energy is deploying smart power grids -- and on the island of Bornholm, with 40,000 inhabitants, it is building a new plug-in network to understand the smart-grid implications of broad electric car adoption.

The lessons from these and many other solutions that are already being deployed around the world are our best textbook for building a smarter planet. And that's why IBM is convening a "smarter cities" summit this June in Berlin -- to be followed by similar gatherings in New York and Asia in the months ahead.

We've invited hundreds of leaders from the world's most innovative cities to share ideas and learn how we can make our cities smarter. The enthusiastic response we've received is very encouraging, and it reinforces my feeling that this moment presents us with a unique opportunity to achieve fundamental change through new kinds of collaborative innovation. Change is what the people of the world want. Now it's up to their leaders -- in business, in government and across civil society -- to deliver it.

Cities are the arena in which to do so. All the ways in which the world works come together in our cities. They are the proverbial melting pot -- not only for immigrants, but for systems, blending them together to engender new forms of commerce, of culture, of science, of life and of society. Which is why cities -- more than states, provinces or even nations -- are likely to be the crucible for human progress and evolution in the coming century.

The urbanization of our planet is one of those developments -- arguably, the single one -- big enough to "see from space." And the bright lights, shining back at the stars, signal more than the simple movement of electrons. The world's cities can be seen as, collectively, the Earth's higher brain functions. Therefore, it's in our cities, I believe, that we can see the most promising opportunity for an intelligence upgrade in how the world works and how we live.

Comments

[Sauce]

I see a bunch of disgruntled ex-IBM employees have found this article. Instead of defacing websites with your bitter, off-topic comments, maybe you should find a job and start working for a living - something you didn't do at IBM.

[w8aminute]

Actually, there are some current employees that have commented, and most of the comments were not off-topic. And speaking for myself, I worked many years at IBM and several of my innovations were internally adopted worldwide. Do you honestly think that all the patents that IBM is so proud off came from the BRIC countries?

As this was your very first comment on this website, you hardly have room to comment about defacing it, let alone your ad hominen attack about 'working for a living'. Did you find it at work while browsing the internet? Seems a little funny that no one even bothered to check the comments section since it's tied to IBM's w3 home page and take it down before now.

[KC the SuperDog]

Sauct, you are ignorant about who got laid off and why. Of those let go who were deadwood, the "RA" severance was probably generous. In consulting, the perform resources (as are so coldly called) are rated in large part on utilization, their billable hours. These resources were in oversupply because those Partners and Sales Execs could not sell enough in this economy to support them (High rates due to fat HQ overhead?) These are highly skilled tech resources that in previous years were strong performers - they had many accounts on which they could bill. Partners, Sales Execs, and 10 times more perform resources were suddenly let go. When the economy turns around and we have work to sell again the perform resources will all be ready - out of China, India, and Brazil albeit at a lower cost AND quality.

Sam has publicly announced that a LOT of work is going off-shore. The ATROCITY and controversy is that he is doing this while simultaneously claiming IBM is not affected by the economy. Why not off-shore in phases over years - give the guys a shot at retraining or finding another job in the US. Dropping 5,000 people in one month and the other 5,000 in stealth bunches during the 1st quarter is repulsive if not desperate. As a stockholder I want price growth and EPS - but not at this "moral cost". It's shameful, greedy, and UN-AMERICAN.

Get your facts straight , you sound like a babbling brown nose.

[KC the SuperDog]

Sam - read the NY Times article on when LayOffs are Immoral and get back to us with an acceptable explanation, THEN the world will take anything else you say seriously.

http://ethicist.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/when-layoffs-are-immoral/

Until then, your Shining Cities story is just another way for you and IBM to make money FIRST, and maybe help the planet SECOND. Smarter? Fix your antiquated crazy labor invoicing systems then maybe the world will take you seriously.

Do you have any Smarter ideas on how to manage the terrorist risk associated with all your new labor centers in India, China, and Brazil? When you demonstrate that, then maybe we'll take a chance on letting a countries infrastructure or other critical system run under the outsourcing model in these undeveloped countries. All you need is 1 guy, living in his SlumDog hut to take a bribe or influence others to do the same. The immoral pursuit of money from the bottom-up (individual) or the top-down (CEO) = burning the candle at both ends.

[baubles]

Sam touts great aspirations, however at what cost? Offshoring thousands of US jobs to the detriment of US workers? What good are all these great ideas if there are no US jobs created from them.

[bogomil]

Forget Smarter Planet, we need smarter people. Complaining about US business outsourcin­g/offshori­ng jobs? Then why not make the changes in this country to make our businesses more competitive so that outsourcin­g/offshori­ng doesn't make economic sense?

For example, what we need is a good carbon tax so that businesses that use energy will face increased costs and become less competitive. Then to earn a profit, they have to reduce expenses which they will do by outsourcin­g/offshori­ng more jobs. Oh wait, that's what we're doing. Wrong answer.

Let's try this, let's have one of the highest corporate income tax rates in the world. Less money for the corporations to keep so that they can hire more employees. Oops. The US already has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world (yes, even compared to that bastion of free market capitalism, Europe). Wrong answer again.

OK. Now we'll tax the profits corporations make overseas but do not repatriate. That way, the money stays out of the US instead of coming back to this country where it could be used to invest in the business and... hire more people to work in this country. Uh oh. We're already doing that. Wrong answer again.

I could keep going but the reason corporations are outsourcin­g/offshori­ng is a direct result of the policies of the US government. Said government is made up of people that YOU elected and in many unfortunate cases keep reelecting. Government policies and elections really do matter.

[pvs58]

Yes the US corporate tax rate is 35%. But how many large US corporations actually pay at this tax rate? How many pay any taxes at all? When you've been milked dry for 25 years by a major corporation and thrown out the door with no benefits, you'll be happy to collect unemployment and other benefits like food stamps... all provided by taxes. Look less than 1% of the people in the USA own more than 70% of all wealth. These people accumulate wealth by wringing it out of the rest of us. Does anyone think any corporate CEO is actually worth hundreds of millions of dollars?
Taxes, environmental and safety regulations are the things that separate us from the third world where there are few taxes and other regulations. Do we aspire to be like these countries? Is the only way to get corporations to stay in this country is by having 1/2 percent of the people own 95% of the wealth and by reducing corporate taxes to third world levels? Why don't we all give up our Saturday's off? Wouldn't that make us more competitive with the 3rd world too? The division of wealth in this country is going the way of more wealth in the hands of fewer people.
Layoffs in favor of outsourced employees make the big stockholders even wealthier.
The polarization of wealth will eventually resemble the Gilded Age. Would you like fries with that?

[Teritt]

This is the business section, and I have a business comment.

Having the CEO of IBM write a piece on a shining cities on a smarter planet seems a little, well, shady. IBM's recent behavior was noticed by Forbes and Seeking Alpha and may be of interest. The below Forbes link has more information about the Audit Integrity report by IBM.

http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/AccountingRisk.do?tkr=IBM

Keep in mind that was for Q4...before the lay-offs and offshoring that started in January that caused more Dept of Labor & EEOC complaints, etc.

The below Seeking Alpha links to an article that cuts through some of IBM's BS and exposes major flaws with IBM's business plan.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/134195-ibm-reflating-the-corporate-bubble-ge-style

Please don't get fooled, Arriana. HuffPost is mainly a political website, so IBM's business practices should be as open for discussion just as Al Gore's or John Edward's carbon footprint / energy use can be discussed. After all, how many Gulfstreams does IBM have and have on order? Should they really give us lectures and fly to Berlin and Asia to discuss smart energy savings by purchasing and implementing their solutions?

[Tom Joad]

...and yet, the modern urban society is still not sustainable...

[DavidJames]

Yet, Damascas has existed from before 8,000 BC.. and Jericho from before 9,000 BC. Which makes them relatively sustainable.

However, whether they are sustainable or not isn't the issue. Sam's point has to do with the importance of cities. Cities are the primary units of our economy.

See Jane Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations.

Sam's main point is valid. There is great opportunity to change for the better in our cities!

[MktAnalyst]

IBM has "offshored" about 50,000 jobs since 2002. IBM employees in the U.S. in 2002 were about 152,000 (+ or - 1,000). There are now about 104,000 in the U.S. (+ or - 1,000). Soon to be down to 103,000 in the next round of layoffs scheduled for June.

IBM is using tax breaks in the U.S. to build plants & facilities in Brazil, India, South Africa and China. Not because IBM wants a smarter planet, but because IBM wants more profit. Not profit, they have plenty now, they want MORE profit and don't care what it costs in terms of people or the planet.

This 'Smarter Planet' advertising isn't worth the time it takes to read it. Huffington Post should know better than to help advertise for such a farce.

[RaviVesely]

Sammy,
These are all great ideas. So, here is one possible avenue for how we can fund some of these projects: Given that you've been at IBM since your early 20s, then you'll know that we can first start with IBM giving back three or four of the $500 million corporate welfare checks it received from the Federal Government under the disguise of subsidies designed to reduce its unemployment rate (of which, since the early '90s, it did the direct OPPOSITE and laid people off). Then, we take that billion and half dollars that you guys have been getting for free for the past 15 years, and we re-funnel those welfare handouts back into sustainable community development projects. So, what do ya think, Sammy? In fact, call up the CEOs of Motorola, GE, Boeing, and McDonalds, and hold a meeting about how your collective corporate welfare checks should be sufficient to cover the cost of, say, a high-speed rail system that moves itself across our great country by magnetic fields alone. Oh wait, why would you want to give back your federal freebies since that's capitalism at its best?; and we wouldn't want to disturb our precious "free market invisible hand" now would we? Plus, why would you want to advocate a public transport system that would reduce profits for ExxonMobil--since you sit on ExxonMobil's Board, too. (Now there's an oil company whose TV commercials have certainly convinced me of their new-found geological conscience!)

Peace.

[progressiveconnie]

The HMO'S are insisting that the U.S. Congress pass health care plans that create A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HEALTH CARE PLANS, in other words those greedy, corrupt, wasteful, inefficient, barbaric HMO"S want the U.S. taxpayer to subsidize their gougeing, rotten health care plans so they won't have to compete with a sensible, responsible, efficient, fairer, cost effective, humane public universal health care plan that covers all the American people and these plans are being used by most nations on earth.
The truth is there is no way that this country can afford to subsidize those corrupt HMO'S and also afford a universal health care plan for all Americans so those HMO'S should not get one cent from the American taxpayer and let the American people decide whether they prefer the public or private health care plans.
The reasons the HMO'S have the nerve to make such a idiotic request to LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD is simple these HMO'S OWN AND OPERATE the U.S. Congress because they give millions in campaign contributions to the members of congress each year for the past 3 generations and by so doing have prevented the passage of a universal health care plan for all Americans with the result that 50 million Americans cannot afford health care and tens of thousands of Amercans die each year from the lack of health care.
.

[marlovian]

Sam! I'm excited! How do I convert a mainframe into an iPod? Send a team of sales reps asap!

[ConservativeStinger]

Many would be very surprised that 3-4 products they have used yet this morning are included in IBM patent filings including the one the allows us to read this post.

Example:

1) Union Product Manufactured Domestically, cost to Consumer = $1,000

2) Same Product Manufactured Offshore, cost to Consumer = $425

Anyone ever chosen item 2?

Take Dell for example. A domestic Dell P.C. would retail north of $2200 using Intel Import products. If Intel manufactured domestically, the cost of this PC would increase to $3000. Would Dell have 30,000 U.S. employees if their PC’s priced out at $3,000 plus?

Sans commercial agriculture, every consumer product you can think of is imported including flat panel TV's, kitchen appliances, clothes, tea, coffee, cell phones, can openers, even United States Flags.

If we don’t buy, they won’t sell and won’t manufacture. Every product purchased offshore can be manufactured domestically. It just takes a bit more money and due diligence.

Any large ticket item you can see besides your monitor when you lift your head up from this post that isn't imported?

Does one buy those Argentine Blueberries for $2.69 or from Vermont at $5.50? How do you want to handle this folks? Knowing we are ALL participating in this offshore value?

Thanks in advance,

CS

[DavidJames]

CS,

Off shoring is a reality in the world economy. What is the argument here? Though unrealized environmental costs of producing off shore should be added into imports with import fees. A $100 per ton fee on carbon dioxide emissions in this country would be a good idea too.

What I like about Sam's post is that he makes a strong case that more and smarter government is what we will need in the future.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness though better systems!

Regards,

[jerrygarcia1]

You are wrong if you think a carbon tax will make this country more competitive. I don't know what reality you are living in but I trust our govt. to do nothing smarter after what I have seen from Bush and now Obama, and many will resist these new govt. controls and "smart systems" because most can see it for what it is. Another way for the rich to get richer at the expense of the least in our society. And this time a lot of people have woken up to the game.

You can't call for drilling for more oil in this country and then propose a carbon tax as your "enviromental" solution. Any thinking individual can see it is a crock. The end result is more expensive goods and services period. That's it the utopia vision will never come to pass. Sam knows that already and most citizens want big business out of our govt., not more intertwined with it. So Sam is trying to sell you on what is actually against you and your country's best interest. When inflation hits, and it will, the new carbon taxes and $4 a gallon gas will finish this economy off for good.

[RandVictims]

These robber barons have had the bully-pulpit since 1981 and look at the shape of our world now. The world saw far, far more innovation and balanced prosperity before Reagan under a system CNBC refers to as "Socialism.

IBM has only one interest - IBM. This guy cares about as much about human life as the AIDS virus.

[DavidJames]

RV,

Since the 1980s, worldwide, peoples life expectancies have increased substantially (for many regions by as much 10 years). See the gapminder plot of world health statistics below.

graphs.gap­minder.org­/world

This graph shows the improvement in the quality of peoples lives worldwide that has occurred with our current business models over the last 30 years.

As you can see from the graph, your gloom and doom attitude is just not supported by facts.

Further, you are missing Sam's main point:

"The challenges these leaders face -- educating their young, keeping citizens safe and healthy, attracting and facilitating commerce and enabling the smooth flow of planes, trains, cars and pedestrians"

"Thankfully, help is at hand, with intelligence being infused into the way cities work. It has tended to be been system-by-system so far, but it need not stop there. We now have the capacity to manage cities as the complex systems -- indeed, systems-of-systems -- that they are. And the current crisis in the world's economy offers an opportunity -- indeed, I believe, an imperative -- to do just that."

[Schpike2]

Sam -- how about a smarter planet in which the importance of IBM's share price doesn't trump all else that matters....like employees, jobs, customers and true innovation...?

[William1950]

read "The Foundation Trilogy" ... by Isaac Asimov... not really relevant but the capitol of the foundation is a planet completely covered by one city ...

[BookDesigner]

I thought Huffington Post's blogs were forums for opinions or for uncovering news that's generally ignored by the MSM. Now a new dimension seems to has been added: advertising for major corporations, e.g., IBM (in this case).

If I weren't such a cynic, I'd be flummoxed.