How has technology made your life easier? When you go to a shopping mall, you can enjoy free Wi-Fi there. When you want to take a taxi, you can book one with your phone. In fact, all of these things can be seen in a smart city.
The idea of a smart city was first suggested by tech company IBM in 2010. Generally, a smart city is a city that uses digital technology, such as 5G network and the "internet of things", to save money and energy, and make our lives more convenient.
Cities like Boston, Amsterdam and Copenhagen are already using smart technology to improve public services. In the US cities of Boston and Baltimore, smart dust bins can sense（感知）how full they are and tell workers when they need to be cleaned. In Amsterdam, traffic is monitored and changed according to real-time data collected from sensors around the city. There are fewer traffic jams.
Smart cities will allow us to save energy. By using sensors and 5G networks to check the usage of water, gas and electricity, city managers can find out how to use these energy better. For example, water and gas pipes（管道）could remind repair workers when there is something wrong. Air pollution could be more closely monitored, too.
What's more, telehealth is used with the help of 5G. Telehealth means caring for patients from far away when the provider and the patient are not in the same place.
One form of this is video meeting with a doctor in real time, the same to a WeChat video call. It will also give older people or those living in the countryside an easier way to see a doctor. There are many exciting apps for 5G tech in medicine. One of them is far-away operations. In March, China's first 5G—based brain operation was done by a doctor in Sanya, Hainan, who operated on a Parkinson's patient in Beijing. In August, China Daily reported that robots in Beijing performed three operations in Xinjiang, Tianjin and Zhangjiakou at the same time.
Of course, it will take time to build the smart cities of the future. But since we've already seen successful examples, it won't be long until more cities join in. Tech Republic believes that by 2050, about 60 percent of people worldwide will live in smart cities.
