Can Automation and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Help Build Sustainable Cities?

INTRODUCTION

Sustainable cities are urban areas designed to balance environmental, social, and economic needs, ensuring a high quality of life while minimizing their ecological footprint.

Environmental pressure in cities has been high due to the civilization's consumption of resources, pollution and waste.

Nonetheless, automation, and innovative manufacturing technologies present an opportunity to minimize these effects since they make operations more efficient and less wasteful.

This article argues that automation and advanced manufacturing have a great potential to revolutionize the construction of sustainable cities that have less negative impacts on the environment. (https://energyinformatics.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s42162-023-00259-2) (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7165).

Security and Safety in Built Environment and Energy Management

Smart infrastructure defines a shift in the way cities are designed, constructed, and how their infrastructures are managed.

City leaders can, therefore, leverage IoT sensors and data analytics to improve the sustainability of their cities greatly.

Smart infrastructure helps in efficient tracking and utilization of the available resources, and results in lower energy consumption and hence, minimal damage to the environment.

For example, smart grids refer to the power distribution network that adapts to dynamic changes of demand for electricity and electricity supply.

In transportation, smart traffic control systems cut on pollution and traffic noise by depicting traffic lights which change their colors depending on the current traffic conditions.

Sophisticated manufacturing and automation are also important for the improvement of energy efficiency of buildings and transport systems.

In structures, central systems control brightness, heat, and cold by use and climate, thus, saving on energy.

3D printing and prefabrication technologies help to build highly efficient structures, which are strong and energy-saving at the same time.

Not only these innovations have the effect of enhancing the performance of the single structures and making them more efficient, but they also help in furthering energy efficiency objectives in cities. (https://www.smartcitiesdive.com)

Green Building Material and Construction

Ecological materials and appropriate approaches toward constructing buildings, are the key factors in minimizing adverse effects on the environment in the process of urbanization.

Eco-friendly construction materials include; reclaimed steel, bamboo, and low volatile organic compound paints as opposed to conventional construction resources.

These materials are selected based on their lesser effects on the environment, longer life span and as a result, their efficiency in contributing to energy consumption in structures.

Automation and trends in Advanced Manufacturing systems highly increase effectiveness on using those sustainable materials. For instance, precision manufacturing helps in reducing material wastage, whereby components are manufactured to given dimensions.

Modern fabrication methods like modular construction and prefabrication lead to speedy construction of building sections, thereby minimizing wastage of construction time.

These methods also enable the use of new construction materials that have potential for enhancing the energy performance of buildings, including high performance insulation and energy efficient windows (https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com).

Waste Management and Recycling

This causes a lot of worries in the management of wastes, seen from the increasing rate of wastes produced in the densely populated urban areas.

Efficient waste collection, lack of adequate recycling stations, and the general problem of increased waste, are some of the public policy challenges that cities face.

Waste management remains an important consideration since disposal of waste affects the environment hence, sustainability has to be controlled.

These challenges can be met by automation and advanced manufacturing to improve the recycling process, and cut down the amount of waste that goes to the landfill.

For instance, automated sorting systems, which incorporate the use of sensors and robots, are a more effective way of sorting various types of recyclable materials than a human operator.

These systems advance the quality and purity of recycled products enhancing their quality and relevance in production lines.

In addition, further manufacturing technologies also help to alleviate waste problems, for example; waste to energy technology and biodegradable products are also considered effective ways of averting waste, as they convert the waste into useful energy, or use waste to produce environmentally friendly products which are biodegradable. [Source: Waste360](https://www.waste360.com).

Besides, the smart waste management systems employ IoT sensors that help track the status of waste in real-time, enabling efficient organization of waste collection.

However, this proved to also have the benefit of lowering substantially the company’s operating costs, as well as carbon emissions from waste collection vehicles. [Source: Waste360](https://www.waste360.com).

Transportation and Self-Driven Cars

People and governments worldwide, require environmentally friendly transport, for minimizing carbon dioxide emissions in cities,  as well as enhancing citizens’ well-being.

Affordability entails the usage of public transport, bicycles, or any electric-powered vehicle, hence minimizing pollution and traffic jams. Self-driving automobiles (SDAs) are an exciting prospect in this area, since they can address most of the transportation issues.

As technology progresses, the transportation which is closely linked to the advanced manufacturing improves through flow of traffic, hence cutting on emission.

Connected cars serviced with smart sensors and AI can exchange information with other vehicles and traffic control systems for increasing the traffic flow. They cut down on congestion, avoid the practice of idling, and improve routing thus achieving a lower fuel consumption and emissions output.

In addition, developments in the production line make it possible to develop vehicles that consume less energy, hence, saving energy.

Transportation—Electric and hybrid vehicles, backed by better batteries and charging facilities continue to cut down the use of fossil fuels. [Source: Transportation Research Board](https://www.trb.org).

Urban Planning and Design

Urban planning and design play a very crucial role in determining sustainable cities, based on the efficiency of the environment that forms part of the urban planning.

Some of the principles include: integration of uses; pedestrian orientation; and public open spaces; all of which are directed towards the establishment of a community with minimal car use.

Application of land resources and smart growth strategies contributes to the effective resource and environmental management, and this prevents excessive spread of urban areas.

Several of the measures presented as part of automation and advanced manufacturing may greatly facilitate and enhance the making of decisions regarding urban planning.

GIS and data analysis support development decision-making by simulating multiple developmental environments, as well as evaluating the outcome of sustainability.

Sophisticated production processes enable the production of modular and prefabricated system-building designs that can easily interlock into the urban fabric and therefore offer lesser construction time and unnecessary clutter.

Also, intelligent simulation tools utilized for planning analysis enable the consideration of impact on flow density, power consumption, and environment given various planning scenarios. Source: Urban Land Institute](https://www.uli.org)

Case Studies: The following is a discussion of the examples of automation in sustainable city development;

Many cities around the globe are spearheading the agenda of incorporating automation and smart manufacturing in the development plans.

For example; Singapore, the Smart Nation strategy uses technology applications, such as intelligent traffic signals for transportation management, intelligent bins for waste management, among others to advance the environmental sustainability of cities.

Through integrating a sustainable transport network and intelligent city infrastructure, the city has recorded a great leap in terms of energy utilization in addition to the reduction of emissions. Source: Smart Nation Singapore](https://www.smartnation.gov.sg)

The application of smart grid and automated irrigation in the park in Barcelona, reveals how automation can result in efficient use of limited resources in order to bring about change in the quality of the environment.

They incorporate real time data in the management of energy and water usage in line with the current demands, hence; saving a lot of energy and water, and are environmentally friendly.

Challenges and Limitations

However, the realization of automation and advanced manufacturing does not come without challenges, as outlined for sustainable city development below.

There is the issue of high initial costs for some of the technologies and structures, which may be an issue for most of the small municipalities.

Furthermore, implementation of new systems can involve complex and many integration with the existing networks, which means that proper planning is necessary.

Another difficulty is technical constraints characterized by the need to apply new technologies and high-level professionals to operate, and maintain existing complex systems.

However, problems associated with data protection and security come into play, and these have to be solved for efficiency and safety of smart technologies. [Source: MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com)

Future Directions and Potential

The possibility of what the future innovation and technology in automation within advanced manufacturing can bring to the sustainable city is promising.

AI and Blockchain are seen to complement the improvement and further advancement of the urban systems for efficiency and sustainability.

Further evolution can be expected in the realms of improved energy control, recycling optimization and possibly even combined transportation systems.

The further development of these technologies has the potential of making positive contributions to reducing environmental degradation in the cities through the optimization of the use of resources and energy and the improvement of the quality of life. [Source: World Economic Forum](https://www.weforum.org).

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that automation and advanced manufacturing play important roles in defining the development of sustainable cities.

They bring efficiency in the utilization of resources and keep the emission rates low, which makes the cities sustainable.

Eco-friendly products used in building and construction reduce wastage and the smart utilization of scarce resources.

Efficient sustainable asset management and recycling tries to solve the problems of urban waste; innovative transport systems and self-driving vehicles minimize the impact on the environment.

Applying these technologies to urban planning and designing makes the cities not to be only utilitarian, but also adaptable.

As for what automation and advanced manufacturing offer in terms of solutions to the current and future city challenges – it must be pointed out that even with costs and technical difficulties, there is a chance to build a sustainable, efficient, and hence, livable city.

People need to accept these innovations, as they hold the key towards development of cities that are environmentally sustainable, and where quality of life is enhanced.