Smart buildings in a Covid-free World

AI and IOT systems will help businesses and organisations to automate increasingly complex facilities management and monitoring processes.

Published Wed, Aug 5, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Smart cities

COVID-19 has indelibly transformed the way society thinks and interacts. Extended lockdowns around the world have compelled most people to work from home. And while some may perceive this as temporary, the emerging sensibility is that social distancing and even semi-lockdowns will continue over the foreseeable future to safeguard public health.

Smart strategies and technologies to support public health policies will be needed worldwide for the next two to three years, and may become the new norm. Ultimately, pandemics and infectious diseases are cyclical and will continue to strike hardest in the heart of densely packed cities.

Hence, the smart cities and buildings of tomorrow must evolve to create more secure and resilient working and living spaces. A paradigm shift is in order: Smart building technologies must make a due departure from cost-optimisation thinking, and step up as a…