PlanIT Valley is a city being built in Northern Portugal that comes straight out of our latest science-fiction novels writes Will Doig. In an article that looks at the dangers and problems of having such a city, his description of the city itself stands out:

• The city is being built with 100 million sensors embedded into it. These sensors will send back a constant stream of data that will be used to alter the city.
• The city will have 150,000 residents and will cost $19 billion to build.
• Because of the experimental nature of the city all of the people who live in it will also likely work for the companies that built it.
• Features of the city include:
  • Cars will be told where they can find empty parking spots.
  • Rooms will be able to detect you leaving and will automatically turn off the air-conditioning if the computer system believes that it would be efficient to do so.
  • Leaky faucets will be detected and either automatically repaired or flagged for a plumber’s attention.
  • In the case of a fire residents will be directed to the nearest exit, and fire-fighters will be presented with the most efficient fire-fighting strategy based on the location of the fire.

To read more about what the city will be able to do, why cities built from scratch have generally failed, how PlanIT Valley compares to Brasilla and New York City in the 60s, and a better alternative to the creation of such a city, click here.

Source: Salon