The resilience of cities is increasingly accelerating. There are cases of neighborhoods where there was no time to design new solutions with certain technologies and others arrived immediately. It is a race to improve the quality of life, to contain climate change, but it is also a powerful scientific and financial challenge.
Artificial Intelligence -AI- is becoming increasingly popular with 360-degree solutions. The most powerful companies in terms of capital and production capacity take on the challenge. Very significant is IBM's announcement this week of a $45 million tender for collect proposals by government and non-profit entities for the IBM Sustainability Accelerator program.
Its own tool, which uses generative AI to "support vulnerable populations to face environmental threats around the world with a different proposal for each year". There is the commercial interest of New York society and we are not afraid of this, but there is also the interactive strength to govern unexpected and complicated situations. Projects for the tender can be submitted until the 30 April next and must deal in particular with the topic of climate adaptation.
The UN indications on sustainable development
The selection criteria of the call will take into account the ability and availability of applicants to support communities particularly vulnerable to urban environmental threats. The harsh reality in industrialized countries affected by climate excesses clashes with environmental protection policies in general and territorial protection in particular. Now, the spirit that supports the announcement is that of Goal UN issue 11 on sustainability: “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. This is because theurbanization it is one of the most significant developments of the 21st century. More than half of the world's population lives in cities today, but there are estimates of up to 70% of residents by 2050. They will all be less protected, which is why we need to think from today about how to have cities or metropolises that are more receptive and at the same time productive to allow people to live with dignity.
IBM looks at technology as is evident and has increased the resources available by 50% to be the brains and arms of a new urban design. However, the millions of dollars will have to take effect within the next five years. Not a long goal to face the environmental threats that when they happen undermine all planning. If we look at emission levels, the intensification of atmospheric risks, rather than floods, droughts or anything else, no part of the world is excluded. The question we ask ourselves is whether AI is within the reach of potentials customers by IBM. That they must not be left alone to respond to environmental and human transformations.
AI, what will politics do?
“We look forward to working with a new group of partners to help transform the cities we live in, integrating solutions that harness the potential of artificial intelligence to build a more resilient future,” he said Justina Nixon - Saintil, vice president of IBM. There is no doubt that the competition for the tender will arouse interest in communities all over the world or at least in those that are faced with the problem of reviewing old urban logics. In any case, governments and politics will not be able to stay out of it, because it is up to them handle environmental disasters and social and economic suffering.
The Sustainability Accelerator program, however, has been tested for three years with large amounts of money and has helped 15 projects around the world for sustainable agriculture, clean energy, water management. What we are all learning is that the transition to the new is achieved with technologies, research and the cultural predisposition to change. It is a topic that fascinates the new generations and we must be pleased about it. An invitation with a lot of money from a large multinational to lend a hand, even if interested, is certainly fine, but national and local institutions cannot remain on the sidelines. They need to wake up too.
