Urban parks are like a slice of nature right in our neighbourhoods, providing kids and adults alike, with a place to socialize, exercise, play, and connect with the outdoors. At the same time, urban parks play a critical role in improving a city’s air quality, thus benefiting the communities as a whole. With the evolution of smart cities, the role of parks in maintaining a healthy way of life is increasing exponentially. But in our wired lives, parks are sort of like an ‘air gapped’ piece of reality, that we want to connect with, but fall short in integrating them with our tech-driven daily routines. On the other hand, parks face challenges ranging from under-utilization by the public to diminishing resources, such as funding, maintenance, and staff. There is an opportunity however, for city administration to address these challenges and expand their outreach by using technology and innovative management approaches. And that innovative approach is ‘Smart Park’.
The need for creating Smart Parks arises primarily from the demand of its users, which are the citizens of a city. Today, connectivity is a basic requirement of life and to satiate this need, amenities like public Wi-Fi, interactive kiosks, smart parking, free phone charging ports, etc. have been inculcated at almost all public spaces. On the other hand, parks continue to remain just a natural retreat, devoid of any and all the perks of technology. As necessary as it may seem for the modern world to unplug, it is also essential to understand that a Smart Park goes far beyond just being a means to connect our gadgets. A Smart Park, as a matter of fact, empowers park authorities with the new age means to attract more people, generate more revenue streams, manage park facilities efficiently, provide a safer park experience and give people the right impetus to reconnect with the outdoors. A technology-enabled park has the potential to be home to popular gatherings like concerts, festivals and numerous community events. But above all, it has the power to become a social symbol that generations will cherish, yearn for and even fight for.
At Amnex, in exploring this fast-emerging concept, our vision is to increase environmental sustainability, visitor enjoyment, and maintenance efficiency of parks, through integration of a wide array of technology assortments. But in order to do so, the fundamental question is to first define how technology can be implemented in a park and pinpointing what value it will imbibe. So, let us first begin by answering this question.
Smart Parks, or better yet upgrading parks to become smarter, does not require a paradigm shift in practices, management or administrative structures; nor does it require a mammoth capital expenditure. In addition to engaging younger and more connected generations, Smart Parks can in fact help park authorities manage amenities in new and better ways.
For example, functionalities like free WiFi, charging, entertainment can be enabled for users via smart poles, all across parks. At the same time, interactive kiosks can be set up around the park for easy navigation to various designated areas like restrooms, food zones, play areas, activity areas etc. Parking facilities can be automated through smart parking systems, so visitors can eliminate their worry of finding the right spot. To top it all, a dedicated park app can be created, which will allow users to do bookings for their celebrations, know availability of parking, navigate through large park areas and do much more right from their phones.
On the administrative side, inculcating technology can make park authorities more visionary. For example, smart lighting poles can be an effective tool to not just illuminate parks, but make park-wide public announcements quickly and effectively. These poles can also be equipped with trackers, insect-repellers, and surveillance technologies to ensure the safety of park visitors. Using analytics from various user data sets, park authorities can actually create realistic baselines of patterns and make informed decisions on various aspects like rates during certain occasions, parking area optimization, etc. Environmental conditions like soil health and air quality can be accurately monitored through cutting-edge sensors, making it easier to allocate costs to areas that need attention. Employee records, maintenance logs, incident alerts, and other analytics can all be obtained in real-time, not just for decision making but also for introducing new revenue streams, wherever there are shortfalls.
If cities can become “smarter” using technology to enhance livability, workability, and sustainability, then urban parks, which are blatantly disregarded, can become tech-enabled too! We’re propagating this paradigm shift through our Smart Park Concept, that’s a meld of IoT Enabled environmental, digital, and material technologies to achieve a series
of values for both the users and city administrations.
We are working with authorities and the surrounding communities to identify gaps, and develop strategic technological solutions collaboratively. Together this assortment of technologies enables equitable access, community engagement, enhanced health, safety, resource preservation, water and energy efficiency, control, monitoring, effective operations, and maintenance, for both citizens and park authorities. But above all, it helps create a world where nature and technology can step together into a sustainable future.
