Brits blind to smart city progress, research finds

There seems to be a dire lack of understanding of the progress and impact being made by the UKs cities

The vast majority (96%) of Brits are unaware of any smart city initiatives being run by their local city council, new research has found.

People are also confused about the benefits such projects could bring – with 23% unclear on any one main benefit – and exactly what the technology is capable of.

Traffic congestion was identified as a problem by 57% of survey respondents, but only 33% said it should be a smart technology spending priority.

Meanwhile, 43% pointed to parking as a problem in their city, but only 7% called for local councils to tackle it with smart technology.

>See also: How the UK can lead the world at smart cities

The youngest age group surveyed (18 to 24-year-olds) were most eager for their local council to get smart city initiatives right. Not only did 37% of them claim to be passionate about their nearest city becoming smart, but 33% said they’d consider moving to another city if it was smarter than their own.

“There seems to be a dire lack of understanding of the progress and impact being made by the UK’s cities – resulting in almost half of our citizens (48%) feeling that smart cities across the UK are still more than five years away,” said Sean Weir, business development director of smart metering and M2M at Arqiva, which commissioned the research.

“Without the proper support these initiatives will die on their feet, so far greater communication is needed on what exactly is happening and why people should care.”

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