Cities represent an enormous opportunity to ensure the sustainability of our planet, housing more than half of the world's population and producing more than 70 percent of global carbon emissions. They also have the potential to contribute to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
But with growing populations comes increasing pressure on resources and infrastructure, such as traffic and transport, air pollution, adequate housing, access to energy and more. How can cities keep up?
A Smart Cities Reference Architecture (SCRA) is a valuable tool in helping to address these challenges by enabling a better understanding of how the many different systems of a city function and interrelate.
It provides a framework that allows cities to see and understand the different relationships in and between those systems and defines a set of capabilities, data structures, processes and interfaces which can then be standardized to help cities become smarter.
Many reference architectures, architecture models and frameworks exist for various industries using different methodologies, making it difficult for them to work together. Yet cities everywhere share many common challenges and goals such as sustainable development, efficiency, resilience and more.
IEC SRD 63188 Smart Cities Reference Architecture Methodology (SCRAM) was developed with this in mind. It provides an internationally agreed systemic and structured methodology for SCRA and a common and tailorable template for architectures of virtually any city system.
It also provides a way of achieving enough detail to be able to identify and then develop the appropriate, effective standards.
Developed by the IEC systems committee (SyC) for smart cities, IEC SRD 63188 reviews and defines the desired characteristics of Smart Cities and the many SCRA models and approaches. Developed through international consensus, it helps to promote consistency and harmonization across the many architectures that already exist.
Nand Kishor Narang, vice chair of the SyC and project leader of IEC SRD 63188 said the guidance was developed in response to the lack of an agreed basis for efficient and effective cooperation between different smart cities programmes and projects.
"What was needed was a common methodology to develop reference architectures of complex systems of systems including, but not limited to, smart cities. IEC SRD 63188 defines the methodology to do this to ensure it will be a firm foundation for a city to use. It explicitly links stakeholders' needs with the principles of reference architecture to explain how future solutions can address their concerns."
The SyC is also working on an internationally agreed SCRA that will bring methodological and practical guidance on how to achieve the essential characteristics of a smart city.
"The SCRA we are developing will help facilitate cooperation and coordination amongst the various stakeholders, programmes and projects to develop potential solutions to these challenges and enable cities to thrive," said Mr Narang.
(Source: IEC)
