Fighting Climate Change with Smarter Cities

As communities around the world grapple with the realities of climate change, many experts believe that sustainable initiatives will be a top priority of governments for years to come. In 2016, the UN reported that by 2030, climate change-related phenomena will be the cause of several hundred thousand deaths per year, and that these effects will be more prevalent in urban areas exposed to harmful air quality levels. It will be necessary for smart cities to develop sustainable initiatives in order to combat these numbers and protect the health and safety of their citizens. At the same time, artificial intelligence has expanded into many industries as a useful tool for enhancing labor and creating faster deliverables. All of these facts beg the question, can artificial intelligence be used to promote green initiatives in smart cities, such as urban agriculture and the expansion of urban green space?

In the last decade, the average age of a United States farmer has risen to 60 years old (American Farm Bureau Federation). At the same time, the United States exported over $100 billion of food products in just 2023 alone. The need for these exports is expected to grow as the world’s population continues to expand. It was expected that young people who grew up in farming communities around the United States, or incoming immigrants new to the country, would rectify this issue and replace the aging labor before them. However, people of working age are moving from these rural areas to urban settlements that promise less labor-intensive industries, higher pay, and better benefits. At the same time, the United Nations has stated that urban agriculture is becoming increasingly necessary for tackling increased food shortages and urban hunger in cities around the world. Artificial intelligence is being employed to aid these issues in smart cities. As of 2021, it is estimated that 87% of businesses in the US agricultural industry were using artificial intelligence, according to the Relx Emerging Technology Executive report of 2021. The majority of these programs focus on “precision agriculture”, a method of farming that decreases the amount of resources used while increasing harvest size. For example, Blue River Technology has recently created a “smart sprayer” herbicide system that utilizes artificial intelligence to detect weeds amidst crops. This system differentiates plants that are wanted with plants that must be removed for crop efficiency, like weeds and other invasive species. By spraying individual plants instead of entire fields, herbicide is decreased by over 90%, crops are healthier, and the land encompassing the farmland is stronger. But this isn’t the only kind of AI driven weed killer on the market today. Carbon Robotics, an agricultural technology company that uses robotics to aid the growing need for labor on American farms. In 2022, they launched their patented Laser Weeder, an artificial intelligence-manned robot that identifies weeds amongst crops and uses lasers to destroy them. This is a chemical-free option that is fast, cheap, and has been reported to increase soil health. This is because of the lack of mechanical soil disruption or harsh chemicals compared to traditional weed-killing techniques.

Another method of precision farming that’s being driven by artificial intelligence is vertical farming. Vertical farming is the act of reducing the average square footage of a farm by growing plants in vertical layers, usually accompanied by the use of hydraulic watering systems that limit the amount of soil necessary for growth. This saves valuable space and soil, and usually prevents weeds and other pests from harming crops. “Sky Greens” is a Singapore-based agritech company that in 2010 launched its own vertical farming operation. This operation employs low-carbon and hydraulic technology to grow organic vegetables for locals of the small, urban country. The main smart system they have developed includes rotating tiers of plant-filled troughs. These troughs can be built up to three stories tall and filled with specific soil and nutrients for the plants selected for that tier, while also employing a rotation system that ensures all plants receive equal amounts of light and water. This system uses alternative intelligence along with its trained farming technicians to control every aspect of the growth process, including sun exposure, water levels, and the general health of each plant. This level of attention makes certain that the urban area will have a reliable, sustainable food source that can continue to develop as its population expands. Weed destruction and vertical farming aren’t the only techniques available for alternative intelligence to aid American farming, though. Farmers in the United States have also utilized alternative intelligence in their monitoring tools. For example, Iowa State University is currently training a plethora of machine learning models to analyze photos of flora and fauna to identify potentially harmful species. Their end goal is to use these models in an application that uses the artificial intelligence tools to identify and offer solutions to limit the amount of pests in users’ crops. This gives more power to the individual farmer to select the technique for removing pests that best suits their needs and the needs of their crops, while also providing more information on what exactly the pests are and potentially how to prevent them in the first place.

Artificial intelligence can also be used to expand green space in smart cities. “Green space” is a collection of natural environments in urban areas where it is typically hard to find such areas amidst the towering, modern infrastructure of cities that traditionally shut out nature as the price for progress. Its primary benefits to citizens are health and free recreation, compared to urban agricultural spaces that offer a sustainable food source. Today, smart cities have begun to acknowledge the benefits of providing their citizens with access to the natural environment, like improved mental and physical health, and have been expanding green space in urban areas all around the world. Artificial intelligence is aiding this expansion. This expansion begins with the planning process of which areas require green spaces, right down to the very first tree planted. According to the Alan Turing Institute, cities only benefit from adding trees to their localities if they are placed in spaces that will not prevent the dispersal of pollutants with their presence or cause colder spaces where they are not wanted. For example, it is beneficial to plant trees around a large building that gets extremely hot and wastes energy on air conditioning in the summer months, allowing the shade to naturally cool the space down. But it is not a good idea to place shorter male trees in areas with heavy foot traffic, since they offer no benefits other than spreading pollen and increasing breathing problems among residents. To help with this planning process, the Alan Turing institute has employed the use of artificial intelligence in its quest to help cities develop their approaches from traditional, but difficult, surveying techniques and out-of-date maps. The institute has developed a machine learning method that measures urban tree canopies with the use of plane and satellite images. The institute also boasts its artificial intelligence’s ability to accurately measure the height of individual trees within the canopy, an important characteristic that determines how useful the trees that are present in cities are. This artificial intelligence program is financially more effective than traditional surveying or imaging techniques, and reduces the amount of human error typically seen in these areas. Therefore, this program will improve the speed and planning of green spaces in smart cities all around the world.

In fact, programs like this are already being employed in cities like Melbourne, Australia. The Australian city implemented the “Urban Forest Visual” program, an artificial intelligence tool that offers and categorizes information on local trees like age, type, and health history, to make it easier for the user to read through the plethora of information. This information is invaluable to city planners looking to expand green spaces in areas where it is lacking. A similar initiative in Madrid, Spain, introduced a program called the “Urban Forestry Science”, an artificial intelligence program which uses available datasets to predict where trees are needed most and the potential environmental impacts of new green spaces. All of these tools are great for the planning process of green space infrastructure, but smart cities are also using artificial intelligence to improve the functionality of their green spaces and offer better experiences for their guests. For example, Smartcity.press suggested that mesh Wi-Fi networks should be used in planning green spaces to enhance connectivity. This plan would get rid of the need for physical structures that would detract from the beauty of local green spaces, as well as keep from harming the local flora and fauna. These types of wifi networks would allow for artificial intelligence programs to be employed throughout parks and larger green spaces that would benefit from new programs. New programs such as the ChatGPT-powered initiative in the San Francisco botanical gardens. Visitors can log into an app powered by the artificial intelligence program and be shown around the gardens with up-to-date, expert information at the speed of a single screen tap. The app even allows for games that families can play in the space to teach their children about plants in a fun and interactive way. This not only makes it easier for adults to enjoy the space and learn in a way that works best for them, but children will be able to grow up with an increased knowledge of the natural world and an appreciation for its presence. This is an invaluable weapon against decreasing green spaces and a lack of nature in the lives of urban citizens, thanks to artificial intelligence.

Also in California, San Diego has installed the use of artificial intelligence to aid in their park maintenance programs. Their artificial intelligence watches all details of each green space, such as local weather patterns, plant species and their necessary care, soil moisture, and even sun exposure. This data then informs the amount of water that is offered to each park based on the immediate need of that space, decreasing water waste and keeping the parks at optimum condition. This same program is also used in the city of Seattle, Washington. However, instead of using it for water diffusion, Seattle has employed its advice on what plants would best benefit from the conditions of their parks. This information has increased the amount of plants and animals in green spaces all around the city, increasing the quality of these spaces and offering better health benefits to visitors.

It is clear that artificial intelligence can be used to promote urban agriculture and the expansion of urban green space in smart cities all over the world. Smart cities will need to prioritize these sustainability initiates in order to combat climate change and increase the health and safety of their citizens.

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