The Post-Pandemic Future of Microcities and Redefining Urbanization

Within cities, economic and social life is largely clustered in and around highly concentrated microcities, ranging from ports, airports, and international train stations to campuses, shopping malls, venues, and office parks. These form access points, focus areas, and hubs which collectively (a) define the city as a whole in terms of its structure and (b) function as magnets for the wider city context. 

This highly fragmented urban fabric comes with both benefits and drawbacks. While ultra-dense locations reduce the average environmental footprint per citizen and unit of economic activity—resulting in sustainable and potentially even circular economies— they also greatly strain the wider city’s resources in terms of high peak demands in energy, utilities, mobility, and other public services. The remaining, frequently disadvantaged urban areas are often left without basic services, resulting in inequality and failed inclusion strategies.

However, it is COVID-19 which has exposed microcities’ Achilles heel: their ultra-vulnerability to pandemics, turning microcities into desolate spaces overnight. On the other hand, COVID-19 is only accelerating already digitalizing lifestyles, gradually reducing the need for physical transportation hubs, corporate and university campuses, mega-malls, and various types of venues such as convention centers.

On the other hand, despite the ongoing shift to eCommerce, eGovernment, eConferencing, eHealth, remote work and education, and virtual entertainment, the fundamental need for social contact and face-to-face business networking remains unchallenged and will continue to evolve around microcity focal points, albeit on a smaller scale and according to a more distributed architecture. All this comes with a higher focus on better resilience against a wide range of known and unknown disasters and calamities.

ABI Research’s recently published report “Smart Urban Concepts: Microcities And Cities-In-A-City” analyzes the aspects and dynamics described above in greater detail, and includes a large number of case studies and forecasts.

Microcities have been and will continue to be hotbeds of innovative technology adoption. Technologies commonly deployed across microcity types address a wide range of challenges and enable critical use cases. These include:

• Smart Cameras and Biometrics – The deployment of cameras, increasingly powered by AI-based machine vision and biometrics, are quickly becoming one of the cornerstones of microcity digitalization for a wide range of use cases. These include security, surveillance, people flow monitoring, social distancing, automated ticketing, parking, access and passport control, and even preventive maintenance.
• Robotics and Automation – Automating the safe handling and accommodation of large numbers of citizens, the overall management of microcities, including logistics, will increasingly rely on autonomous systems and robots. These include robotic cleaners and assistants, drones (for mobile surveillance and inspection both indoors and outdoors), baggage handling, and driverless vehicles for both passengers and freight logistics (e.g., at airports). Automation serves the dual purpose of improving citizens’ experience in terms of safety, throughput, and convenience as well as the overall profitability of microcity operations.
• Digital Signage – Information and guidance of citizens via public signs in ultra-crowded and complex microcities will remain important despite the emergence of smartphone-based information applications.
• Wi-Fi Access Points – Wi-Fi will remain critical, not only for providing high-speed connectivity inside and outside buildings, but also as indoor location beacons—despite the wide availability of cellular, including future public and private 5G networks.
• Micro-grids – Sustainability and the use of renewable energy is becoming an increasingly higher priority for smart cities. This holds even more importance for microcities with on-site micro-grids, at least partially releasing cities from the burden of their high peak energy demands by achieving some level of independence from external energy sources. This is increasingly referred to as circularity.

Unsurprisingly, a wide range of smart cities technology vendors and service providers are focusing their product and solution strategies on one or more types of microcities. Examples include Nokia (ports), Accenture (airports), Navya (airports), IBM (ports), Cisco (ports), Alstom (railway stations), NEC (railway stations), Siemens (airports, campuses and railway stations), and HERE (ports).

As in so many other ways, COVID-19 is accelerating efforts and thinking around new urban concepts, in particular the role of microcities in future city designs. As mentioned above, the shift to smaller-scale and more distributed microcity planning seems inevitable, and not only because of COVID-19. More general considerations related to resilience objectives and digitizing lifestyles are equally important. We expect this to become fertile ground for new urban planning tools like digital twins and generative urban design software, combined with a range of next-generation technologies like airborne urban mobility, touchless delivery and freight, AI-based asset monitoring and demand-response solutions, and integrated micro-grids.

As an example of the kind of new urban concept to be announced (and maybe implemented) in the next years, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently unveiled a new city concept, The Line, consisting of a fully pedestrianized, car-free, 170 kilometer long urban linear structure providing all essential daily services, such as schools, hospitals, leisure facilities, and green spaces within a five-minute walk. The Line will accommodate one million residents, with construction starting in Q1 2021 and completed by 2025, with total costs estimated at US$100-200 billion. It was announced as a “blueprint for how people and planet can co-exist in harmony” and is part of the US$500 billion, 26,500 square kilometer NEOM business zone. Other features will include ultra-high-speed transit and autonomous mobility solutions, flying taxis, predictive/preventative healthcare, and, oddly enough, a giant artificial moon.

While for many The Line might sound like a bridge too far, it is clear that the very concept of urbanization is now starting to be challenged. The hunt for new sustainable, resilient, and digital living city designs is wide open.