Blogs

2021-09-29 • Food Waste - It is an issue

by Jacques du Plessis

I grew up in Africa. Our cultural take was a mix of the memories of the depression and the rationing during the Second World War, blended with the realities of Africa and poverty being a reality for many. Simply put, wasting food was not an option. You finished your plate.

Then I came to America, and in the land of plenty, it was just fine to nibble a bit and then discard a large portion of your plate. Then I visited South Africa recently, and on more than one occasion, I noticed the idea of wasting food was a new normal, and that was not restricted to any racial group. Wow, not what I would have expected.

It is a reasonable idea to not waste. So, what is the impact of wasting food? The Republic states that about 17% of food is wasted along the way. That impacts food prices. The United Nation states that 10% of the greenhouse emissions are attributed to food waste.

Can we truly be a smart city if we waste freely? Our awareness of the impact of our actions matters. Wasting food seems like nobody else's business, but it does matter. Donate the food that you do not need. I appreciate it when stores work with charity organizations to distribute excess and food about to expire. A deep respect for the source of our sustenance is ennobling to the character of a nation. Being wasteful is decadent and it reflects a careless attitude to those in need.

Being careful with food shows our connectedness and care for our environment and our fellow beings. The choice is ours to raise this topic in our families, with our friends and associates. Be the example first, then encourage others to reflect on this matter.

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2021-05-14 • Food Factories of the Future

by Jacques du Plessis

I have been teaching foreign languages for most of my adult life and here is a moment when I can make the case for learning another language. In addition to being able to watch movies in Spanish, French, German, and Dutch, I find it valuable to access the intellectual treasure of these cultures. This blog will highlight my fascination for the progress made in the Netherlands re agriculture. I remember fondly my conversation some years ago, on a flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town, with a Dutch entrepreneur. He used to live in South Africa, then relocated back to the Netherlands, but he kept his agriculture business in South Africa. In his case, he was exporting flowers world-wide. He had an operation in the Netherlands, South Africa, Costa Rica, and somewhere in Asia. Since then I have become aware of the penchant the Dutch have for growing things. From both my mother and my father's side I am related to the Visser family from Zuid-Holland, so I just could not let this one go.

I have written before about Dutch research to create building materials from hemp, I have written about the Dutch building homes from cardboard (and I visited the factory in Amsterdam). I have visited their sustainable urban farms, and today I want to focus on their success with vertical farms. For more than a decade Dutch researchers have studied the optimal artificial environment to grow plants. These vertical farms have fascinating potential, because ... we face water shortages that are increasing to more countries and regions. Vertical farms use 95% less water. Does that get your attention?

We are slowly and reluctantly coming to face that pesticides do impact nature, insect life, and human bodies. Organic produce is here to stay, and of course, vertical farming is pesticide free (no fungicide or herbicides either). Does that get your attention?

The growth is year round, and the time from planting to harvesting is greatly decreased, so there is a reliable source of food, not impacted by drought, or hail, or frost, and best of all, it is local. No more trucks from the other side of the country or Mexico. Yes, now every state can provide locally sourced produce. Does that get your attention?

... and I forgot to mention, that the traditional means of growing and distributing agricultural products has up to 50% waste. So, from the outset, you are getting half the money by default. Dang!. Once again, vertical farming virtually eliminates these inefficiencies that traditional agriculture has.

A very exciting part of vertical farming is that it is meant to be urban farming. These spaces are creatively sought and exploited for the community's benefit. An old factory, abandoned or underutilized buildings are turned into mega growing boxes or plant production units (PPUs). The next question for architects to explore is to integrate these PPU's into the design of future buildings. When you build a parking garage, why not dedicate the top floor as a PPU. When you build a mega mall, why not use to space on the back end of the property for a PPU? When you build a bridge, consider some PPU's underneath at the ends. The creative options will be fun to watch. Build one next to the university to ensure part-time work for students. Connect the university research with the plant production, the design of the building, the solar energy provisioning. This is what I call a smart city! Let's take it one step further, why not have the university sponsor its own PPU and do all the research, internships, harvesting and use of plants, etc. from the facility? You can even get the business students involved to carefully study the model every semester to explore optimal production and marketing and sales. No longer do universities with an agricultural mission claim sole ownership of this turf. Urban universities can now step up and use their context, and research acumen take agriculture to the heart of the city, create a viable locally-grown source of food, and provide a rich environment for research and employment. Before tearing down an old building, consider this.

Are we ready to leap into the future that technology offers us?

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2021-04-21 • The Life and Death of the Car Battery

by Jacques du Plessis

In the previous blog post, the emphasis fell on the Cycle of REs: Repair, Reuse, Repurpose, and Recycle. In a thought-provoking article in Bloomberg News the issue is confronted. The encouraging news is, we are starting to think cyclical. Rather than selling the vehicle and running away from accountability, there is responsibility demanded by government from the manufacturer. The car manufacturer has to take full responsibility for the post-vehicle life of the battery. in 2018, when this article was written, the forecast was that by 2025 there will be 2.4 million battery packs that will need to be address for a path in retirement. They would not be ideal to be EV batteries, but they still hold a charge and can be redeployed to do things such as charge other EV batteries, run data centers, become renewable storage for micro grids and provide street lights for the additional 7 to 10 years of useful life left -- indeed a secondary revenue stream, before they will have to be be recycled. Of note is that electric busses will outstrip electric cars in providing retired batteries, because of the high use of busses their cycle will be 4 years, rather than the 10 years of cars.

What is good about this news is that at last we do not release a product (the EVbattery) with no forethought. The hope is that internationally, there will be a cradle to grave plan for every EV battery, and that no poor country will lack legislative protection, because such loopholes in the past have lead to the rich countries using questionable means to dump toxic waste in poor countries. We will need legislation to avoid this end-of-life dumping on the poor, with corrupt officials escaping with heaps of money for turning a blind eye.

This is a global initiative, and it might be very helpful to take this logic to plastic. The payment for the final solution for plastic as to be paid up front, and the discarded plastic will be funded to process. Once that payment is demanded up front, it will create the incentive to find alternative solutions. That is and should be major quest of every legislative agenda.

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2021-03-29 • The Role of Circular Design

by Jacques du Plessis

We all are in awe when there is clear evidence of function and form. I think of artefacts, or in the functioning of a space, or a vehicle, or even larger, the layout of a suburb, or a city. For example, upon my first visit to Washington DC, I impressed with the macro design of the city. It operated and felt like a "capitol city".

The purpose of this posting is to make us aware that within the circular context of things, design has generally been myopic. Our design is often still part of the linear logic ... that means we are not designing for the life after the intended purpose. lt is a design that has as its target the objective of use and esthetics, and it does not consider the reality post end-of-life situation. Now, in the era of the circular economy, we have to step back and our design has to go beyond. Depending on what we are designing, we have to design with terms such as REpair, REmanufactore, REuse, REpurpose, or lastly REcycle in mind. I call this circular approach to design "Design-C"

REpair: The latest iphones are an example of design not serving the option to repair. Cell phone repair technicians tell me that after the iphone7, it is very difficult. The implication of a design that does not facilitate repair means the ability to remanufacture is also frustrated, as well as the opportunity to repurpose.

REuse: This is an established field. Online auctions fit this area, as well as thrift stores, some of them specialized In the USA, the Habitat for Humanity REStore is a good example, whereas Goodwill has a focus on what goes in and around the home. I am a regular customer at both. Their mission is REuse.

REpurpose: This is a creative area with good examples and possibilities. The video below takes used shipping containers and in a week turns them into an ideal indoor farm.

REcycle: Use of materials that can recycle. Design so that the extraction of material is efficient. Avoid materials that do not recycle.

Comments: When windshield wiper blades have to be replaced, it is surprising to see how a much larger unit is replaced, rather than just the blade itself. Headlights replacement is not a replacement of the bulb, but the whole headlight unit.

In commercial packaging, Design-C is not vigorously pursued because it does not make financial sense. It is easy and profitable to use single-use plastics since there is no consequence for doing so. If the cost of dealing with the waste has to be paid for at the outset, then an eco-friendly material would be more attractive.

Legislation and design are vital components to the quest to reverse the trend to waste, to pollute, to discard, and to ignore the impact on the earth and indeed our health and well-being. That cost has to be on the table at the outset to motivate, entice, and compel corporations to think of profits outside of the framework of exploitation. It is time to bundle design and circular from here forward as a permanent stepping up to be responsive to slow, the halt, and eventually reverse our follies.

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2021-03-27 • Can Renewable Energy Supply 100% of a Country's Needs?

by Jacques du Plessis

I remember, not that long ago when I thought like many -- renewable energy sources can help, but no way will it replace the current coal, natural gas, or nuclear solutions. Pretty soon, it seems I will be proven wrong. In 2020, Scotland met 97.4% of its needs with renewable energy. I am delighted to announce that I have been enlightened by this delightsome news about how they manage to keep the lights on. They have good winds of course - 70% of their electricity comes from wind. Scotland's renewable energy as tripled over the past 10 years. This source of power can now fully supply 7 million homes.

It is informative to take a look at Germany and see how they have progressed. These 4 results below are from statistica.com. Germany has far greater energy needs due to its industries and larger population compared to Scotland, so their path should look different. It is impressive to see their sources of energy, such as municipal waste (1%), hydro and pumped storage (3.3%), biomass (7.8%), solar (9%) and wind (23.7%). Not long and they will hit the 50% mark. It makes sense that Germany's goal to reach 65% by 2030 is well within reach.

It is exciting to see the impressive progress that even in countries such as the Netherlands, where they were way behind, their renewable energy deployment grew by 40% in 2020. There is momentum here, and the clear message is, based on the success of several nations, that this sector will generate many jobs, and it is time for legislators at the city, state and national levels to do their research and focus on the cause. It really is not a question of if anymore. I ask you, elected official, when are you going to make your voice heard?

Links:

Sources of Energy

Installed wind energy since 2008

Wind Energy Generation 2000 - 2020

Jobs Creation in the Energy Sector till 2019

2021-02-25 • Bending the Curve? Africa & India can!

by Jacques du Plessis

2021-02-23 • Bending the Curve towards a Sustainable Cycle

by Jacques du Plessis

Most innovations focus on cities by default. Infrastructure, population density, skills availability, transportation, etc. make this obvious. Expect new things to happen first in larger population centers. Follow the money, that is where the return on investment makes sense.

However, here we have a story with a different angle. ...in agriculture, there are sometimes product that is seen as waste, and when the waste is simply dumped or burned because that is the cheapest option, we have a problem to be addressed. In this video by Deutsche Welle "Turning Straw into Gold" a Thai woman goes to college, and returns to her home village to take on the practice of burning the rice straw after the harvest. Read up about the impact of this pollution - it is miserable. Well, she bought the straw cheaply from farmers and turned it into pulp for the manufacturing of bio-degradable plates and containers. The next link is to Kirya Labs in India. Here is another wonderful experience, doing the same thing.

When we live in a context of poverty, where solving these issues takes the easiest cheapest way regardless of the extended consequences, there is no money to invest and the waste is dumped or burned. In the case of rice straw, the poor farmers see no other way to address the waste. This story is a wonderful exception. The pollution from burning rice straw is a miserable health hazard throughout the region (4 and 5). Rice crops dominate the agricultural activity in south and south-east Asia.

Here is a wonderful opportunity to sustainably manage the waste of rice farming. In addition to turning the straw into pulp for plates and packaging, the International Rice Research Institute is recommending the following ways to repurpose the straw: (i) Rice straw for improved soil fertility, (ii) Mechanized collection, (iii) Rice straw mushroom production, (iv) Rice straw silage for cattle feed, and (v) Mechanized composting.

The larger point to ruminate over is not what we can do with the straw, but to think and do creatively about how we can bend that linear line of produce, use, and discard. Here are rich examples of how it can be done. The value here is, that when we turn rice straw into plates, we push back in plastic, and that is a vital battle to win. When this plate has been used and is disposed of, the earth happily receives it. This solution far away in the fields, blesses the solutions in the city and we are all partners in making product management sustainable.

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2021-02-19 • Who is going to blink first? - Nederland natuurlijk!

by Jacques du Plessis

This title is not as superficial as you may think. We often think the person with courage is the last one to blink. This Jeu de la barbichette as it is called in French has a twist. In life this game of chicken should consider what the stakes are about. If two drivers are racing their cars towards the cliff, and the first one to hit the brakes is the one who blinked, and maybe that is just fine.

So, here is our problem... Manufacturers have embraced the use of plastic wherever possible. Should we once again extoll the virtues of plastic. It is cheap and it is the most ideal way to package products: waterproof, durable, transparent, strong, pliable, endlessly mouldable. Since the serious expansion of the use of plastic, there has been no roadblock to do so. Consumers love the convenience, and in the end, the plastic ends in the trash, and we do this over and over, day after day... why not?

Let's go back to the 1970s when we discovered the damage that fluorocarbons were doing to the ozone layer. In 1978 the New York Times reported (2) ,"For months now many Americans have been feeling virtuous about using a roll‐on deodorant — and so helping to reduce the threat to global survival posed by aerosol sprays containing fluorocarbons. The fluorocarbons, it will be recalled, are gases that percolate slowly up into the stratosphere, where they are split apart by sunlight to produce chlorine, which then erodes the ozone layer that shields the earth from deadly ultraviolet radiation. The consequences, though distant and highly uncertain, could be grim: an increase in skin cancer, genetic mutations, damage to plants and animals, and drastic changes in climate."

This is the pattern. We discovered the value of fluorocarbons, then used it happily. Then we discovered fluorocarbons were not good, then we took action and found alternatives.

Scope is where fluorocarbons and plastic differ. Plastic is everywhere, and the idea to take on this issue is just too big to have any faith in succeeding. Is that it? Or are we still dealing with ignorance about the true damage of microplastics in the air, and in the water, and the seeming impossibility of not using plastic?

Well my friends, the Netherlands blinked. Of the nine political parties, one did not respond (PVV) and the other eight agree that the current status quo that producers of plastic are not accountable for cleaning up the plastic soup (contaminated waters). This is a major leap forward. Once we can tie the responsibility of plastic pollution to the producers, we will not bend this linear curve from the factory to the consumer to the dump and wherever else. Once the producer has to be legally connected, we can start looking at the true impact of plastic waste and the cost of making the use of these products more sustainable.

Soon, we will see legislation to change the status quo, to change the money situation so that money has to be set aside for the processing of plastic. Currently the immediate cost of plastic is dirt cheap and the long term cost to our health and the environment will be very expensive. Without new legislation the plastic manufacturers will continue to disappear over the horizon with their profits and our taxes will have to face the consequences. Only once we charge manufacturers and consumers for the true cost of plastic will we be in a race to find sensible alternatives. Now that is what I call smart.

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2021-02-01 • EMF - What in the name of progress are we thinking?

by Jacques du Plessis

I, along with millions of Americans, will always remember that day when the Challenger took off in January 1986, with the first teacher in space on board, the late Christa McAuliffe. In horror we watched the shuttle disintegrate. The Rogers Commission found that the rubber O-rings of the Solid Rocket Boosters cracked in the cold temperature. The deep story is that the engineering expert at Morton-Thiokol clearly stated that in his report, but his superiors felt the pressure of not getting in the way of this historic flight, with millions of school children geared to watch the first teacher go into space. Due to pressure, the experts got sidelined.

Of course, the situation where the truth gets put to the side, or drowned out by excitement or fervor, or ever fought is a real dilemma of integrity when you are a lone voice speaking truth to power.

... of course I was excited about the new possibilities of G5, and in my exploration of the awesome future that is awaiting us, I was not keen to give the floor to any naysayers, but my mom raised me right. Slow down, do due diligence and never rush to make your wishes the truth. The more I read about microwave radiation, I had to face the fact that many outstanding research findings at reputable institutions confirmed that electro-magnetic radiation is not harmless. Of particular interest was that nonionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF) did harm our biological makeup. A good introduction might be the article in the Scientific American (1) by Prof. Moscowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley.

The clear concern is that we have it backwards. Proponents of dubious technologies are not forced to first submit to research to provide clear and convincing evidence of the safety of the technology. Rather, with a blank slate, they declare that there is no evidence that it is harmful. So, we will use it, suffer the consequences, and the entrepreneurs will have disappeared over the hill with their bags of gold, and then will we be forced to take corrective steps.

Remember the problem when a leader does not have the courage to oppose those who are eager to make their millions. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers was quoted on 7/10/19 as saying "But we can't be the only state in the Midwest that's behind on 5G. It was an important piece to pass, but we will be monitoring it." (2) I cherish the comment by Dr. Martin L. Pall, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences at Washington State University. He said, "Putting in tens of millions of 5G antennae without a single biological test of safety has got to be the stupidest idea anyone has had in the history of the world." (3)

Recently, the city in which I live, Glendale Wisconsin sent me an instruction -- "call this company we contracted with to make your appointment for a smart water meter. Should you fail to do so after three reminders, your water will be shut off." I should have been happy to comply. After all, this is clearly a key smart city initiative -- to eliminate the drive-by water meter reading. Now it is automated and with RF radiation the meter info is sent to the cloud. Then, as I was anticipating, I found this: https://www.saferemr.com/2015/02/health-experts-caution-about-smart.html , Once again, here is a technology imposed upon me, and there is no research to present the evidence of the safety of the product to my health. As I searched to company website, there was no mention of any dangers, nor was there any evidence that it is safe.

I do think it is fair to demand that the research should precede, rather than follow the implementation.

After searching all of the information provided, I made some calls and I was provided with a link to address this topic by the makers of the smart water meter. https://sensus.com/rf/

This is a topic that will still require further investigation. My initial observation is that if we have to trust science, we still have two camps. The Sensus meter folks (Link 5) immediately point to the fact that they follow the guidelines of the FCC, suggesting the FCC is knows what they are talking about, that they have the full force of science behind them, and that should calm the concerns of any rational being. However, if you look at Link 4, there are questions raised about the current standards and the openness of the FCC to accept new scientific research.

I conclude that in a former era Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." It seems like we are now all entitled to our own facts.

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2020-11-25 • PaaS - It is a big deal

by Jacques du Plessis

SaaS was one of the first virtual offerings, subscribing to a virtual offering of software, then came PaaS, Platform as a Service, and the concept of offering a virtual platform and software was awe inspiring — amazing what virtual could do for us. And of course, decades ahead we will look back and realize, that was just the beginning. Just like when the concept of digital just started in the 1950s, ... seen as a simple adjustment, but it was the root of a whole new world, as we added expansion of storage and memory, then networking, then cloud, then IoT, AI, bigdata, etc. In this vain, i want to touch on another PaaS that is quite different -- Product as a Service. This is the PaaS of this posting. It is quite unique conceptually and very important to the future of engineering, supply chain, supply chain management, retailing, marketing, and many other ancillary fields. You will see, that it's potential is an unfolding event of great magnitude.

I want to set up our conversation with a mental image that is a useful tool to your thinking approach as an engineer, entrepreneur or visionary CEO. I once read about a cascading waterfall that kayakers considered to be impossible to do. Of course that was that proverbial curious kayaker who had to explore this 'foolish' possibility. He took many videos and segmented the trajectory into thirds. If the top third was the complete whole, could he do it? After careful consideration he concluded it was possible. Then he considered the second third, and likewise the bottom third. He came up with a 'yes' answer for each segment. So, what about it all in one session? He kept visualizing the possibility, and the result became a confident YES. Against the sound advice of all, he went over the top, and met a relieved party at the base. It went as planned, it just needed to be broken down into manageable segments and executed accordingly. Take this mindset to some of the many tasks of today that have been manual forever and assumed to be normal. The next two vignettes show the shift in doing.

Vignette 1: Truck fleets train their drivers to constantly inspect their tires, and to report any worn tire for replacement. In the world of IoT, sensors monitor every tire and reports that back to the tire company. When a tire falls below the threshold, the driver is notified and the tire company provides the replacement or maintenance in time. The management of the tires is now moved off to the tire experts. Now many trucking companies do not buy or maintain their tires, but it is a contracted service of tire management.

Vignette 2: A large industrial plant has one or more employees assigned to regularly check the filtration systems on the assembly lines and shop floor. Failures in filtration could disrupt production, damage equipment and impact health. As a service, rather than a product, the filter company sensors all filtered air and liquid flow 24/7 and they do just-in-time replacement to keep the filtration system in optimal shape. The service model has transformed the job.

What else can be automated?

This question is something that needs to be asked often. Smart lighting systems in cities can light the path ahead of you in buildings and automatically dim the lights or shut them off behind you. The same could be done for the locking and unlocking of doors, access to systems, etc. We can imagine many new worlds and new futures. Automation in agriculture is another example with just-in-time watering. It goes beyond a sprinkler on a timer, but the measuring of moisture in the soil, awareness of the season, the growth pattern of the crop and water needs of the plants, the weather predictions, etc. You can now avoid an active sprinkler during a rain storm. Tilling the field could be done with self-driving tractors, using GPS, knowing the condition of the field, and doing this during the day or night. Harvesting, preparing, sorting and packaging begs for constant innovation.

Take a simple example of refilling your car's gas tank. Imagine a system to notify the vehicle to refuel. The station knows the vehicle as it enters the station, refilling happens with no human intervention. The service station could run a diagnostic on the vehicle, correct the tire pressure, replace or top up liquids as needed such as power steering fluid, engine coolant, and brake fluid. the refilling and charging happens with no human intervention. I am reminded of an example of more than a decade ago when an entrepreneurial friend told me about putting up an unmanned gas station outside the gates of a remote national park. Through cell service the status of the tanks were reported to the oil company, and on queue, the tanks were refilled. Tourists used their credit card to pay and refill. Security cameras kept a check on the facility. When I heard this, I was in awe. Of course this was possible, how come we were so slow to exploit what now seems obvious. This sentence will still be repeated many times in many sectors.

I want to conclude with the layer of awareness in automation. When a robot drills in a screw into an object, and the screw falls out of the robotic device, does the robot know it? Can it track the fallen screw and salvage it? Can it tell the screw it picks up is not a dud? As we go beyond simple repetitive automated tasks, and we expand the sense of awareness, the possibilities increase of where we can apply this technology. Self-driving cars is such a case. The layers of awareness is essential to the system, and will determine the acceptability of large scale adoption. In that world we enter the space of vehicles knowing about each other, so that in the immediate surroundings a freak event will not lead to a massive pile up of vehicles, but they will all respond in real time to the change. At an even wider scope, I might be wanting to go from my house to the airport. The itinerary will mesh with all the other vehicles and AI will work out an optimal just-in-time path to get me to the airport. Automation is a n emerging phenomena that we need to tackle with intent. It is a great future.

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2020-11-19 • Reset our Imagination

by Jacques du Plessis

The impressive work in Amsterdam is often on my mind. I recently watch a video (posted below) with fresh ideas about how to move forward. Sometimes a "poke in the dark" triggers something phenomenal and spontaneous. But we do not count on spontaneous events to guide our future. To better serve our future needs, we have to ask ourselves if we have designed the optimal social infrastructure — are we socially geared to design, to deliver the connections, to have the exchanges and the explorations to dissolve inertia.

We know that the 4IR (4th Industrial Revolution) holds great promise, but to implement it organically is possibly a miserable way to go. When there are big shifts technologically, it compels us to rethink, and reset. When electricity became a reality, it was "organically retrofitted" to existing structures as we stare at the unsightly conduit pipes in formal spaces, but new designs to consider elevators, lights, air conditioning, etc, made sense. This is where we are. There is need to rethink. Disruptive technologies forces or maybe compels us to have this meta-awareness of how the process should be managed differently from doing the next obvious thing in front of your nose.

There is a conflagration of the whole 4IR (with its AI, automation, sensors, big data and such) with the emerging realization that nature operates in a sustainable cycle, and humans have imposed an unsustainable linear path, with a ever-growing unsupportable dump or wasteland at the end of the linear path. The prevailing wisdom is shifting to a deep awareness that we have to go circular, and do so soon.

The video below is a rich resource of smart thoughts and experience; yes, more than 10 hours of it. If you are into binge watch, here is your chance :-). But please, get your notepad ready, class is in session. It will inspire us as to how to gain momentum and move the needle, rather than talk 'needle' all day long.

LINK: www.amsterdamsmartcity.com


2020-11-16 • The Circular City

by Jacques du Plessis

I have to congratulate Amsterdam Smart City. Just tonight I got the invitation to join their new virtual platform. Because I have been there and I greatly respect their work, I was happy to log in to the new platform. First thing I saw was the display of focal areas. What deeply impressed me is that they focus on being smart, rather than having smart stuff and infrastructure. I do not feel my colleagues in the USA have migrated to this concept yet. I still find a focus on smart infrastructure and things -- the old IoT and 4IR mindset.

Amsterdam has a more social conscience and their focus shows it. It is worth it to share their top structure to illustrate the point. It is:

Circular City (11 topics)
[Buildings and Construction, Circular business models, Plastics, Food & Organic streams, E-waste, Waste solutions, Data, Policy, Consumer goods, Textiles & fashion, and User involvement]

Energy (13 topics)
[Smart grids, Solar energy, Saving energy, Energy storage, Generating energy, CO2 neutral living, Buildings, Lighting, Heating & Cooling, Hydrogen, User involvement, Policy, Data]

Mobility (12 topics)
[Electric vehicles, City Logistics, Public Transport, Bicycles, Accessibility, Autonomous vehicles, Mobility as a Service, Crowd monitoring, CO2 Emissions, User involvement, Policy, Data]

Citizens & Living (8 topics)
[Public participation, Living labs, Healthy urban living, Social entrepreneurship, Sharing economy, Inclusion, Clean air, Data]

Digital City (11 topics)
[Internet of Things, Digital infrastructure, 5G, Sensors, Algorithms, Blockchain, Drones, Ethics & Privacy, Policy, Data, User involvement]

Smart City Academy (4 topics)
[Upscaling, Business models, Data, User involvement]

(from www.amsterdamsmartcity.com)

I am not going to elaborate on each of these topics. Listing them is the message -- the focus is refreshing and very current. It is worth the trouble for others to take note.

2020-10-11 • Transportation in the City

by Jacques du Plessis

We all relate to the time-is-money concept. It drives us to make sure we travel as efficiently (think 'fast') as possible. This is where tycoons really impress. Private limo from the front door to cabin door of a private jet, and then to take off into the skies to where ever they wish to travel today. Is this living the dream? Sure, depending on how you look at "dream". Is is possible that one tycoon's dream might impose a cost on us all collectively?

This discussion is not going to be superficial. Superficial would be when we use flat logic; where we assume our starting point is the need to travel, so that need is not unpacked and dissected. Chester and Horvath (2009) brings this into focus as they consider the carbon footprint of transportation. They consider trains, buses, cars, and airplanes in the US, considering the non-operational components. Ranges in vehicle occupancy changes the relative performance of modes. Table 1 in this article highlights the non-operational components, which including idling the engine, roadway construction, parking construction, maintenance, fuel production, etc. The power of this article is in considering the big picture. Old school thinking would calculate the fuel consumption of the trip in focus. New school thinking would look at the big picture from design, to construction, to infrastructure, to maintenance, etc. and eventually to decommissioning and the impact all of this (and more) has. It is about considering the whole cycle. Let me interrupt myself here with a vital thought expressed many times in previous articles — We used to live in linear logic, and that is migrating to circular logic.

Linear versus Circular Logic

This concept drives the new revolution to address the massive waste problems we face globally. This is our only earth, there is no plan B. Linear is still the default -- from manufacturing into the supply chain, and ending up on the city dump. In centuries gone by, especially in situations of scarcity it was impressive to see how things were repurposed, upcycled, and recycled etc. Furthermore, without the glut of synthetics, their world did not experience the level of damage we our generation is inflicting upon nature. It was the industrial revolution that created this massive problem of polluting, We have won certain battles, improved a few, and yet, we have have created new ones. Our carbon footprint is one of our key battles today.

Rather than only thinking of building vehicles with less emissions, we have to take a hard look at the need for many trips we do. Covid has taught us that we can do without many of the trips and address it virtually. Here is a moment of learning we should keep, and hold onto after the pandemic. I did not ever think I would be able to fully do my work (teaching, service and most of my research in virtual space. This has happened. Without the pandemic, this would not have been allowed. Amazing, of a crisis can be a blessing.

References:

Chester, Mikhail V, and Horvath, Arpad (2009). Environmental assessment of passenger transportation should include infrastructure and supply chains. Published in Environmental Research Letters. Accessed on September 11, 2020 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/4/2/024008/fulltext/


2020-08-22 • When will we ban plastic from the landfill?

by Jacques du Plessis

Many reports are coming in about a looming catastrophe of our own making — plastic. Since the inception of plastic in the 1950's, its use has gone ballistic. ... and on the one side that that is cool. Consider how many expensive parts have been replaced by cheap and durable plastic. Easy to make, durable depending on the type of plastic chosen, and then also colorful and stylish. What could be wrong with this picture? Win-win, right?

I am here to turn you around to face "The Big Lose" that we all are facing. Watch the TEDx talk by Sarah Dudas, Microplastics are Everywhere (in the suggested readings below). Many researchers all say the same thing: "We have to stop this linear path from production to landful with plastics. We have to change course!" The following TEDx talk is equally powerful as we hear of first-hand witness about the pollution of the oceans as Craig Leeson explains in his talk, titled Plastic Oceans: A True Global Emergency. I highly recommend the movie: A Plastic Ocean.

Plastics breaks down to the finest dust, but it stays plastic. It does not become some organic component to compost or anything wholesome. It becomes part of the air we breathe, and the air above, even in the most pristine and remote mountains are as polluted as anywhere else. It is swallowing our atmosphere. All animals living are breathing it in. We are just at the beginning of scientific inquiry to understand the health impacts of breathing plastic dust incessantly. It is abrasive, it leaches chemicals, and pathogens travel on these particles. Is that a good start? So, plastic is a short term win, and long term lose.

Let's consider the oceans with the millions of tons of plastic being added every year to our rivers, lakes and our oceans. Like with our air, here the same horror is unfolding in liquid form. It is everywhere; from on or just under the surface down to the deepest trenches. There are huge gyres of swirling plastic in the ocean, some larger than France. Like with plastic in the air, it breaks down to particles too small to see. All marine live ingest these, and many die a horrible death with their bellies maximally extended with plastic ingested particles. Like all living species on earth, we too are all consuming, digesting, and inhaling plastic.

Stopping the linear path of plastic to the ocean and the air is our mission and the time to do so is now! We are all impacted. Do the moral thing and refuse to pass this thoughtless catastrophic mistake on to the next generation. We have to curve this linear path to a circle. A circular economy can safe all life on earth, in the ocean and in the air!

Unfortunately we have to go political with this. My sincerest hope is that it will not be the cause of one party only. Let us rather fight about how to best accomplish this, than if we should step up and take action. Step one is to arrest the use of all single-use plastics.

Step 1: Lobby and educate those who will have to break from the evil cycle of campaign money that buys their inaction. Only if we as people of all political stripes hold all colors of politicians accountable to fight the linear path of plastic, will we succeed to avert the major natural calamity we will face. Right now our price does not address the full picture. That is the problem. The price only calculates the cost of production. If the price has to account for the ethical recycling of the container, and that charge is in the price, it will address the true impact of the packaging, and that will drive innovation, based on the same holistic scope of pricing. This point has to be understood by every politician, and we will see legislation hold the supply chain accountable.

Step 2: We have to pass a law that will arrest the linear path of plastic. Are you willing to stop this train from heading for the cliff? We have to announce that the tap to allow the linear pipeline will be shut. No more single-use plastic are to be used in any packaging. This is only the beginning. We have to force innovation and collaboration to save the oceans and our air. We have to use a carrot and stick approach. Industries that are the first to be 100% compliant will get recognition and a seal of recognition for being eco-responsible. Companies that do not comply, will be paying for the recycling and cleanup of single-use plastics.

Step 3: Drive for innovation in packaging, and the design of products - specifically with the end-of-live moment in hand, so that it can be dissembled with easy to recycle the different materials and components. Modular designs to improve the change to repair and reuse. We have to drive a culture to refuse plastic. Stores that lead in eliminating the use of plastic packaging should be help up as the heros they are. Heros to the environment, heros to the health of our children and all living things on earth. This is major. We did not realize what path we were on till recently, and now we have to sound the alarm. We have to alter our course, change our habits, and drive all politicians and industries to clean up their habits. There needs to be a heavy tax on anything that uses single-use plastic, to have the funds up front to address the waste, and to fund the future solution.

Please take this message forward.

Suggested readings:

1. Herscher, Rebecca 2020 "The Atlantic Is Awash With Far More Plastic Than Previously Thought, Study Finds" Accessed on August 22, 2020 https://www.npr.org/2020/08/20/903506759/the-atlantic-is-awash-with-far-more-plastic-than-previously-thought-study-finds

2. Wikipedia -- "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" Accessed on August 22, 2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch

3. Hannah C. (2020) "Scientists Trace Microplastic Pollution Almost Everywhere, It's Become Airborne". Accessed on August 22, 2020 https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/26034/20200612/scientists-trace-microplastic-pollution-everywhere-become-airborne.htm

4. - (2017). "The 7 Types of Plastic & What they Mean to Your Health". Accessed on August 22, 2020 https://www.nontoxicrevolution.org/blog/7-types-of-plastic

5. Dudas, Sarah (2018) "Microplastics are everywhere," TEDxBinghamtonUniversity. Accessed on August 22, 2020 https://youtu.be/jjsrmFUmyh4.

6. Leeson, Craig (2018). "Plastic oceans: a true global emergency". TedX Pitic. Accessed on August 22, 2020 https://youtu.be/geSNK5pqT7s.

7. no name, (___). "What is a gyre?" Accessed on August 22, 2020 https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gyre.html

8. Social Plastic https://plasticbank.com/


2020-08-06 • Smart People are Caring People - Fine-tuning the System

by Jacques du Plessis

Let me not present you with and introduction, or set up the context with justifications, but just dive right in, and speak as if this proposal has been operational for years. Let's call you Kim, and pretend you were an expat and just arrived back home, and you noticed there is this new thing going and I volunteered to give you an introduction.

Hi Kim, you noticed this new recognition rewards system we have in town. Let me explain how it works... you are already familiar with loyalty rewards system of the airlines and hotels. Because you choose them every time you need the service, they developed this system to reward you with their points system. As you build up points you can trade that for services, such as free flights, weekend stays at their resorts, etc. Of course they can do this because they are not filled up every day. They know when they operate under capacity, so now they have this brilliant system to build loyalty by you willingly opting for their services rather than the competition, and then they fill empty seats and empty rooms with this system. Indeed, it is a win for them, and a win for you.

So, our Recognition Dollars (R$) is a voluntary system and every business with this logo participates. What is different from the hotel and airline system is that this is an umbrella system. As you know, some credit cards have started something similar — when you shop at certain stores, you add to your rewards system, and because so many merchants participate, you can then use these reward points where it makes sense to you. The Recognition Dollars uses that same concept. You might go to a restaurant, and for say a $20 meal, they will allow you to use Recognition Dollars. Their official offer might be R$8 and US$12. So at US$ they still make a profit and you get to improve your buying power. Now before I explain how you earn your R$, let me explain one more thing. Say you are doing well and you have no need to use your R$, you can do the following. You could transfer your $R to a charity, that then can use these to bless the lives of those who have fallen on hard times. Another way to do this, is to pay the US$20 for your meal, and then the restaurant will transfer R$8 to serve those among us with need. Just like other reward systems, them moment you use your points or R$, they are gone. As you consider this restaurant. Say three people come in and each donate their R$8 back to the restaurant, they now have R$24 to use to feed someone. There is actual value here. It is a collective effort of all of us to share where we are able to, to generate capacity so that we are able to dynamically address need in our society. The value of this is that we are all tied to each other and our contributions are connected to real people in our community.

When community support is designed to be exclusively government operated, there is no connect between the person giving and the person receiving. This disconnect creates problems of the receiver understanding the sacrifice made on their behalf, and the joy of the giver to appreciate the impact to a local person valuing this support. So Kim, now that you are back, let me tell you how you will be getting your own R$. Download this app, and set up your account. Immediately you will receive a base of R$100. Now, there are a growing number of ways to earn more R$. As you know, much labor and service we produce is not part of the GDP, as if this does not exist or count. This system captures those efforts well. Every time you volunteer in the community, the administrators of the nonprofit efforts will give your R$ for your efforts. The opportunities to contribute are vast, and the impact is impressive. This allows everybody to participate and to earn R$. This is where those who are in very poor health get to be served, and projects to reduce pollution or improve the community can move forward. We all work for our community, and those efforts fit into the system.

Maybe next time, if you are interested, I can go into some of the fun academic reasons behind this Recognition System and how we build community, how we get to use unused excess in empty seats, surplus food, hotel rooms not used, and many other excess in the system. Now we can put the excess to use to benefit the provider and due to great support to the community, bless those who have contributed, and also reach out to those in need among us.

I have built many meaningful relationships in our town due to the many opportunities for service that I have had. I have seen my buying power increase, and I have shared some of my excess where others really appreciated the help at the time. Welcome back to a wonderful city and after a week, I want you to tell me what differences you have noticed due to our Recognition System.

2020-08-06 • Smart People, Smart Systems: Eliminate the Them and Us

by Jacques du Plessis

This is likely the most provocative post to date. If we have a tech smart city, with all the tech automation possible, like for traffic flow, reserving parking, trash can status notification and triggering action to empty the cans, free WiFi everywhere, etc. If we have all these cool IoT systems and AI to empower its potential, is that then a smart city?

What if we have really efficient ways to remove the trash from the city, but we do not have any efforts to reduce our trash imprint on nature? What if we burn through as much electricity and fuel we need, and our focus is to only enjoy an optimal life from the comfort-and-convenience perspective, but we never consider the impact on nature and the sustainability of this lifestyle? Do we still have a smart city?

What if we have a small group of the very rich, and a large group of hand-to-mouth survivors and even homeless? What if our incarceration numbers are very high? If our crime rate is high, would we simply adjust our tech systems to create more and safer gated communities, would the answer be to focus on better surveillance of public and private spaces, scanning of more licence plates to vet vehicles? Would the answer be to build better apps to track and report suspicious behavior, etc. and nail those suckers just thinking about messing in our area? Is this a smarter city?

Two points of contention are self-evident here — it is about people and the environment. Building a smart city means we are committed to a circular economy aka a 360 economy. The linear pattern of produce - use - discard is constantly curved so that the discard transforms to bend that line back into the produce node or towards the reuse node. In a real smart city, we incentivize innovation in design and practice to improve upcycling, recycling, reuse, and to avoid, eliminate and reduce waste. Think of zero carbon communities as a goal. Think of packaging without plastic. Many more innovative ideas to make it a smart community is part of the vision — to see ourselves as part of the world, connected to the rivers and the ocean, and even if we are not on the ocean, we are part of the alarming plastic pollution of our oceans and the rising issue of microplastics in the atmosphere. We have to recognize our fate, we are in this together.

When it comes to people, building a smart city means we eliminate the "them and us" where it does not belong. We all have our own toothbrush, our own bed, and our own shoes. This is where them and us fits. But, when it comes to the essence of being human, and of being a citizen of a county, then we are one. Let's name a few ... . We all have the right to free speech and to vote, we all have the right to safety and to own property. All children, (even those among us who are dyslexic, or blind, or deaf, or shy) have the right to a decent education and to healthcare. That is why we have a constitution, to establish some of the key things we want our society to have. If your right to free speech is threatened, I am not asking myself first if I agree with what you are saying, but I ask myself what I can do to show you that at this fundamental level we are one; that I am committed to you and that you are committed to me, and when the free speech of any of us is threatened, we will not tolerate this imposition. This goes to the fundamentals of what makes any country great. If we hold to this common contract of "US" and not break apart here, we have hope. In too many countries you see people let the thugs get away with it, either because you let someone else's free speech be removed because you do not understand your commitment to that "US" contract or you lack conviction or courage. At that moment the rule of law is not respected anymore and second-class citizens are born. From now on, the following will happen: based on your views, your religion, your skin color, your gender, your sexual orientation, your socio-economic class, etc. you risk being deemed not "worthy" of being part of "US" anymore. This is when the haves break contract to create the have-nots. The debate has to return to what is it that we include in the contract of "US", and sadly, we have to reaffirm who the "US" is. Black Lives Matter would never have been, if we did not break contract and force some of us to be have-nots based on race. I asked my family, ... if you lived in Germany in the 1930s, would you have posted the sign "Jewish Lives Matter" on your lawn the night after Kristallnacht? This conversation has to happen about the many ways in which we have broken contact with some group, and allowed them to be disadvantaged, disrespected, threatened, etc. because we were not courageously committed to "US", to vigorously defend the rights of all.

In my next post, I will explore this commitment to each other, and propose a system to bring great relief to many, and revitalize the our society. Stay tuned ...

2020-07-31 • IoT and Wireless Energy Supply

by Jacques du Plessis

This week was a journey into the innovation in energy. The trend is so exciting: Big box screens have become flat panels and energy use has been reduced. Component miniaturization has impressively reduced the footprint of just about all electronic devices. The need for power has consistently come down. However, the dependency of electronic devices and the electrification of, well even the inconceivable, has expanded the need for and dependency on electricity. Think of the wood or metal shop of a century ago. Lanterns for light and a wood stove for heat, hand tools and lots of elbow grease to get the job done. Today precision is easy, automated handling and laser guided cutting, laser plasma cutters, CAD/CAM design to manufacturing systems, 3D printing, and a clear migration from knowledge in the head to digitally stored and executed knowledge. A decision is made, a process is activated and the GO button delivers. ... and that GO button could be activated from anywhere in the world and the manufacturing could be happening remotely. All wonderful and big ideas with fantastic implications. Here is another such a fantastic scientific development remote charging.

There is near-field and far-field power transfer options, using magnetic induction and magnetic resonance. There is radio frequency beam powered transfer. This is simply a cryptic mentioning of some of the options. Radio Frequency options are being developed by companies like Energous. I am particularly interested in Infrared (IR), I suggest reading the article: "Is Infrared Light the Missing Link to a Truly Wireless World?". The idea is to use a laserbeam with infrared light to transfer the power. There is also the possibility to communicate with the device. A faucet could communicate how much water has been passing through it. Leaks and other malfunctions might be detected, and it could flag the need for servicing. So devices in the bathroom and kitchen and elsewhere could not only be charged, but their functionality could be monitored. This enables the service of these components to become more efficient.

Questions do remain. Safety is a key issue to be explored. Another issue is the power transfer rate. If the rate is very low, it is not a green solution. This will be a focus of future blogs.

Source: Viribright

2020-06-24 • Plastic Free store in Michigan

by Jacques du Plessis

WWMT in Michigan reported something novel that happened in Kalamazoo. The following article appeared: Small business in Kalamazoo is the first zero-waste, plastic-free store in the state. The celebration is about the BEE JOYFUL SHOP. As you read their story, the words 'sustainable' and 'zero-waste' do stand out. Jessica and her family might seem to be far removed from the IOT-centric virtual focus, with deep data etc. However, their effort is indeed a pioneering moment that will hopefully not only gain the attention of conscientious shoppers, but also of legislators and community influencers.

The unsustainable path of plastic is the urgent slogan of the day and the decade and the century. Because we are so use to plastic and because we so freely discard plastic, we often face a horrible flaw in thinking. The flaw is this: "If it was so bad, surely our leaders would know about it, and they would take the needed measures to address any serious problems." Just like second-hand smoke took decades to address in public spaces, we know the facts are only as good as the responses of the people. It makes me think of hearing about someone dying on the street in New York, and everybody thinking the same thing. There are so many people seeing this person suffering, I am sure someone has already called for help. We are sadly very good at deferment, and that leads to not thinking independently and not feeling compelled to be accountable.

My personal line is: If we do dumb things, what is a smart city all about then? If we do not build our smart infrastructure to be environmentally sustainable, we are not smart. So, it is not only about smart gadgets and algorithms and connectivity; it is about changing our ways to show and commit to mindful practices that leave this place better than we found it. A simple idea that we should work to make it simple to do.

2020-06-16 • Smart Cities and the Pandemic - The Utah Report

by Jacques du Plessis

My Smart City work connects me to several states, including Utah. Their strongest smart city initiative comes through US Ingnite. On April 16, I attended this virtual meeting with Mike Hussey, State of Utah CIO, and John Angus, State of Utah IT Director presenting about their response to Covid-19.

They took action before the first case in Utah. On March 6, their site coronavirus.utah.gov was up. According to Mike Hussey, Utah CIO, Utah and Minnesota we the two states best prepared financially going into the pandemic. Utah has a rainy day fund to draw from.

Utah was prepared to have most state employees work from home. It made a noticeable difference in relieving congestion on the freeways. The air quality in Salt Lake valley improved. On March 17 the Economic Task force, a subcommittee of the Covid Task Force went into action. On March 27 the governor issues the 'stay home' directive. Utah was one of only eight states to give a directive rather than an order, and the compliance has been excellent. However, the choice to issue a directive versus an order is not without controversy. This open letter in the Salt Lake Tribune shares the concern: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2020/04/17/eric-stulberg-young/.

The key point the state stressed is: Online, not Inline. The state launched a chat bot, named Porter to assist and direct people to find the support and services they need. The networked with companies in the state to help with PPE manufacturing.

John Angus said it was important for them to migrate from information to action. They had never before had to work so fast to get their web pages up Their Corona virus site was up on March 2 and quickly went from a few hits to 150,000 hits per day. They used the UHRMS system that was designed for a mass casualty event and updated it to address the pandemic. Both hospitals and labs report their data into the site. They immediately tracked all available square foot space in public buildings to be ready for hospital expansions where needed. They have a contract tracing system ready to confirm if any user has been in close proximity of a Covid + person. The website https://entry.utah.gov/ was set up to get information from all those entering Utah with any freeway or flight to serve the needs of the Utah Department of Health.

Silicon Slopes, the voice of Utah's startup tech community immediately contacted the governor to offer their services to support the response to Covid-19. Domo offered to develop a dashboard to allow for rapid and distributed decision making, showing hospital bed capacity and usage, etc. Below are some dashboard examples -- Detect the Undetected and Know who you really are.

According to Angus, IT security is a vital concern. Before Covid-19 happened the state of Utah counted about 150 million attempts on their systems per month. Now that "everybody" is working from home, the uglies are out in force. Utah now has 2.5 billion attempts. They are combing over everything to find that one vulnerability to get access. Security is vital, need I say any more.

2020-03-26 • Covid-19 and Citizen Responses

There is a shortage of just about anything — gloves, masks, protective clothing, sanitizing fluid, etc. If we can't protect, we are exposed. Maybe those who feel unempowered among us will exclaim, "Will somebody please do something!" Now it a time to act. Watch this good advice from the Czech Republic, in how they protect themselves (YOUTUBE VIDEO). Now is the time for universities, manufacturers, and every home with a sewing machine to join the cause to either directly save lives, or help prevent infections. This is the time for can-do-ingenuity!

What can we do?

RESPIRATORS: A stubborn engineering grad student bullied his faculty at Oxford into at least trying to explore creating a respirator. Soon they realized the essential respirator was not too complex to make. Their team went into overdrive and they are now producing respirators. Furthermore, they placed their designs online and invite any institution world-wide to use these designs to help in augmenting the acute shortage. For more on respirators, go to WWW.OXVENT.ORG.

Related to this is the production of oxygen valves. See here: https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/hospital-in-italy-turns-to-3d-printing-to-save-lives-of-coronavirus-patients-169136/

HANDS-FREE DOOR OPENING: I saw some good innovations that can be replicated on 3D printers. Here are some examples: attachments to door handles, so that you can use your forearm to open the door, rather than grab the door handle with your hand. There is a step plate attached at the bottom of the door. You step on the plate and use your foot then to open the door. See https://www.materialise.com/en/hands-free-door-opener/technical-information and https://www.youmagine.com/designs/arm-door-opener-covid-19 and here is the video: https://youtu.be/02n7Pd360JU

PROTECTIVE SHIELDS: There are 3D printed protective shields, masks, and oxygen valves you can make.

MASKS: As you saw in the Youtube Video listed in the first paragraph, this is essential we all wear masks when outside. My own research suggests something beyond protecting us from air-borne viruses. It also protects us from ourselves. We touch our face frequently without realizing it. A mask disrupts that intuitive action, and even if we do bring our hand to our face, it offers protection. Below are hand-made solutions anyone can make at home. Others can be done to supply to the community. Then there are 3D mask, to which you add the replaceable filtering portion. Universities can get into the action to commission their 3D printers to serve this dire need. Here are some great solutions:

FURTHER 3D RESOURCES:

2020-03-24 • Responsive Leadership

by Jacques du Plessis

Covid-19 and Local Government Responses

The critical role of true leadership at the local government has rarely been as pronounced as it is now with the rapid escalation of Covid-19 infections globally.

Just yesterday (March 23) the CDC reported that "SARS-CoV-2 RNA was identified on a variety of surfaces in cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers up to 17 days after cabins were vacated on the Diamond Princess". Yesterday as well, it was reported that to reach the first 100,000 infections, it took 67 days. The next 100,000 too 11 days, and the third 100,000 infections took 4 days. By looking at today's stats, it seems like the next 100,000 infections will take about 2 days. So, are we learn on the fly, where do we go from here?

You might recall in a post on March 16 I posted my dismay at the lack of response from both city and county websites. I am glad to report that has changed. I am impressed with the Milwaukee county website -- this is the county with the lion share of Covid-19 cases in Wisconsin. This map of the county shows the locations of infections: https://county.milwaukee.gov/EN/COVID-19 . Click HERE to see the full screen version of the county map.

In this expanding crisis, it is clearly a race to save lives. Getting the city to focus on staying home, and spawning innovation to provide, manufacture, and innovate to create processes to deliver the much-needed equipment for medical staff and the public to protect themselves.

2020-03-18 • IoT for Health in the Home

by Jacques du Plessis

Health

The city of Leeds, UK has 56,000 properties under city management. In the video https://youtu.be/CGhYEmk5ABs the city recognizes the link between housing and health. They are proactive. They are using IoT to monitor these many dwellings to ensure the tenants have an optimal environment as far as city responsibility is concerned. They intervention might include providing free or low cost broadband. It might include IoT sensors to monitor humidity, carbon monoxide, smoke, etc. It could include services, such as telecare. This concept is often used when talking about geriatric care, or supporting the disabled. However, it could become a much broader concept - to remotely provide or address care as an umbrella term, which could include telemedicine, emotional and psychological support, and consultative support about other life decisions, such as diet, budget, legal assistance, etc.

Cost Savings

So as we look again at the big picture, the outflow of developing all these services and structures over a large number of homes, such as the 56,000 council homes in Leeds, would be the need and opportunity to analyse big data, generated in this process, and using AI for example to better understand decisions, processes, seasonal trends, preventative cycles, etc. For example, tracking plumbing and electricity systems could help to develop more on target preventative maintenance schedules. Cost savings are possible here by preventing the targeting of resources in less optimal areas. Sensors allow maintenance schedules to shift from preventative to predictive. In other words, there is more actual knowledge to know when maintenance is needed. In the case of central heating, the preventative schedule would say, replace your filter every year in late summer. With sensors monitoring the actual use of the filter, the replacement could be triggered when needed. Monitoring options might include digital heat guns, ultrasound, infrared, and vibrations analysis tools, etc. to measure vibration, temperature, flow, or pressure. It is wise to have a preventative maintenance schedule; yet, it is desirable to migrate to a predictive maintenance schedule. The benefits are better accuracy in doing the needed maintenance, resulting in improved reliability of equipment, and cost savings (not replacing too often or too late).

Ethics and Privacy

As with all smart technologies, there is the chance to exploit data and to intrude on privacy. Policies and laws have to constantly be vigilant to understand the full process and the opportunities for unethical conduct and how to address it. Civic committees could be set up to determine and regulate data policies to encourage transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest.

2020-03-16 • Education in the Era of Smart Cities and Disruption as a Norm

by Jacques du Plessis

I am evaluating the bigger picture of education presently, especially in this era of tech-centric initiatives.

As an education researcher, I have always placed education into two broad categories: Objective-centered Education and Human-centered Education.

Objective Centered education is focused on knowledge, skills, and critical thinking. It includes the majority of what is regarded as education (Math, Language, Art, Music, Geography, etc.). It prepares the learner to do things, engage others on complex topics, think strategically, etc.

Human Centered education is about two things -- our relationships with others (the social dimension) and refining and developing ourselves as individuals. In this blog, I want to focus specifically on the latter model.

With Human-centered Education, the personal and social dimensions support each other. Your values such as honesty, honoring your word, being punctual, sticking with your commitments, developing self-discipline and executive skills tend to focus the development of the personal dimension. Yet, they impact the values in the social dimension, such as courtesy, respect, kindness, compassion, patience, peace, nurturing others, justice, tolerance, forgiveness, etc.

Developing and defining ourselves and our collective treasure of what community is, builds on this fascinating interplay of the personal and social developmental journey, where our growth is in thinking, feeling, judging, commitment, doing, and in becoming and being. This journey is expressed along the polar gravitation cores of order and chaos. The order is represented by commitment, discipline, precision, measured success, etc. The chaos is expressed by innovation, creativity, conceptual reinvention, experimentation, ownership, etc.

With this focus on ourselves as beings, our identity as individuals, but then also our identity as part of a community, the good of the group, the esteem and support and valuing of others, is at the heart of developing healthy functioning communities.

There is a thriving engagement around the objective centered education with the use of technology, student-centered learning, and new models of schools to drive for entrepreneurship, and creative thinking -- juxtaposing this chaos-centered polarity against the conservative order-centered approach of a more tightly scripted curriculum and clear objectives and a learning path. often designed by experts.

There is also now the emergence of diversity and a flourishing engagement around human centered education. The notable trends are:

Character Education: (https://www.character.org/character/)

Positive Psychology: (https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-positive-education/)

Emotional Intelligence: (https://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-intelligence-learning-education)

Maybe there will be some difference in children immersed into a program based on character education, versus positive psychology, versus emotional intelligence. If you are keen on the development of the whole person, and you want to see education as a proactive environment to go beyond Objective-centered Education, and reflect a deep engagement in developing the person as a being and the person in all social contexts, would you support any of these mentioned proposed paths to support the emotional and moral growth of the learner?

For example, you can draw from any of these thought streams to develop servant leadership in the next generation. As an educator, I would venture to say, that many decades from now, any of these three mentioned paths in education might either flourish or fade, but it is certain, that the ideas of Human-centered Education will not fade. The basic tenets might be reframed, repackaged, yet the broad aims have always been part of our wish. As we look back in time, the human-centered path was implicit because it was so deeply ingrained into the social norms and mores of a community. At other times, at times of great historical disruptions, the social fabric came apart and there was a dire need for moral leadership and examples to renorm society.

My attempt at big-picture thinking about this topic. It is good to have competition, it is good to have innovation and creative options to address similar objectives to develop better functioning individuals, communities and societies.

As an educator, I am also committed to freely share my best with others, encouraging them to adopt whatever they judge to be valuable, and likewise for me, to expose myself to other approaches and to refine my own thinking and improve my approach. Just like innovations in the car industry might start with one company or one model, but if it has merit to safely and economically transport people, it will gain a wider appeal.

In conclusion then, I offered a yin/yang view of education -- Objective-centered Education and Human-centered Education. I gave a snapshot view of the core focus of each, and then further explored the Human-centered space, indicating how this field is not coming to its own and becoming a more diverse, and gaining traction in the bigger picture as an important part of education. My question and concurrently my wish: How can we form support structures above any of the specific philosophical paths to encourage and promote all human-centered educational endeavors? With this wish, my hope is, that collectively we can all recognize the contributions of all efforts to build community, peace-building endeavors, values, mores, norms, and traits to create a more ideal environment for all to thrive, to be productive, positive, creative, giving and caring citizens and members of the human race.

2020-03-16 • Covid-19 and being Smart

by Jacques du Plessis

In the blog post for March 8, I did a check of local government websites: Miwaukee (https://city.milwaukee.gov/home), Milwaukee County (https://county.milwaukee.gov/EN ), and Waukesha County (https://www.waukeshacounty.gov/ ) and I called them out for not being proactive and taking local leadership regarding the pandemic.

I am happy to report, that although they were slow, they did eventually respond and now they all have a prominent response on their home pages. This pandemic is not something to blame on one leader and then to feel self satisfaction for having called out errors in leadership or judgment. In the context of a pandemic, it reminds me of a comment I once heard from an astronaut. He said that as you circle the globe, you do not think in terms of political borders. It is one planet, and you see the impact of any one nation or region (e.g. the Amazon) on the rest of humanity. We are collectively dependent on us all working for each other's well-being.

In short, every leader (political, religious, educational, etc.) and at every level (international, national, regional, local, community) and every person has to take up their role. We all have to behave in concert with the bigger goal to disrupt and counter the spreading of the virus. No exceptions. We have to all sacrifice and share the burdens of some who might have to sacrifice more than others (think of the chicken and the pig volunteering to do breakfast). We have to break the links of infection and then heal the woulds and negative impacts of the disease. This is where we need leadership at every level and in every sector, to help us win, then heal.

2020-03-08 • Smart City Thinking about Covid-19

by Jacques du Plessis

If you were to visit https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6 (The Johns Hopkins Dashboard for the spread of Covid-19, and if you had followed this site since January, you would now see that many countries look like China did a month or so ago. Much is not known about this disease, but what is clear is that it spreads fast, and that the older people are prone to die.

The image blow is the China-moment for Italy. Also Iran, Germany, France, Iceland, and many more places are about to show the same rapid explosion of new infections.

The press is all over this novel virus. However, if we compare Corona versus the yearly flu epidemic, this is what we observe (See https://gulfnews.com/world/flu-vs-coronavirus-which-one-is-more-dangerous-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind-1.1580923658868?slide=5 )

Clearly, it is the novel factor about the illness that draws us in. If Covid-19 happened every year, this would not happen. With the common flu, the same population is at risk - meaning those with a compromised immune system are at risk, with the spot light on those over 60 years of age. We need to get the message right. Wash your hands frequently. The soap breaks up the lipid bonds in the virus and the virus falls apart. Alcohol does a good job too. Wearing a mask is a great idea, especially to help you to avoid touching your mouth and nose.

With the spread of the disease, I took a look at the Milwaukee City Gov website (https://city.milwaukee.gov/home). How are they helping to prepare people to avoid getting infected? The front page has a What's New section. It covered the Census, sidewalk snow shoveling, Carjacking, Home owner Resources, Opioid overdose report, and then there were FIND IT FAST links to permits, employment, Parking etc. but not a word about Covid-19. This is how bureaucracies respond -- they need their nose rubbed in it. Milwaukee, it is time to respond!

Milwaukee County? (https://county.milwaukee.gov/EN ) Same story, not a word; but hey, there is an announcement about a beer garden opening on May 13.

Waukesha County (https://www.waukeshacounty.gov/ ) Not any different.

Here is a clear need to inform our community, to take leadership, and not to sit back and wait for the CDC to do everything, and if they do not impress us, to blame the federal government. This infection is as much a state and local issue as it is a national and international issue. Locally we have a role in being smart. Without a smart response, strategic thinking and action, we have our own inaction to blame. Help people find masks, and hand sanitizer. Help dispel fake news, hype and fear.

2020-01-29 • Vertical Farming

by Jacques du Plessis

As a child, my dad introduced my to the concept of hydroponics. For a little boy this very exciting. I questioned my dad as follows: "You mean, people know what plants eat, ... and they they give the plants just the right medicine to make them grow perfectly?" As a little boy even I realized that if we were able to do that, we could grow plants in many unusual places. Fast forward to today. Produce is grown in the southern hemisphere to supply North America and Europe with off-season fruit. In the modern world, that is normal. It is commonplace for produce to travel great distances as the corporate model decouples the source from the delivery points. I noticed that with cheese for example. Wisconsin produces some well-known cheese labels. I could be at a store within a mile or two from the cheese factory, yet my price is not much different from a store anywhere in the country. So, it does not really matter where the cheese produced. The point is - the distribution network decouples the area of the source for favorable prices. Industrial farming is dominant in crop production. Given the ease of transportation and technology to keep the supply chain stable, it seems to be the default path forward.

Now, move forward to a new concept - vertical farming. Is there a case to grow food in a building, or even covering multiple floors with farming activity? This new reality is unfolding as a new reality. The benefits include that science and technology is used to produce an optimal product under highly controlled conditions. Because you can control the moisture, the nutrient feed, the temperature, and the light, the plants can grow at an optimal rate and this environment can be set up in a building, despite the season outside. Your proverbial tomato can be picked today and be eaten tomorrow. It would be common for the produce never to leave the city. Year round, the crops will be delivered with great consistency and delivered at predictable intervals. For now, the crop choice includes tomatoes, microgreens, lettuce, cucumbers, etc. According to the website of 80 Acre Farms their energy can be from 100% renewable energy, using 97% less water than conventional crops, and using no pesticides.

The future of this endeavor is exciting. Many questions can be explored and refined. For example: On a vertical farm, to what level will automation be possible? What might the future of product distribution look like? Could it become a community co-op and the neighborhood members all buy shares on a yearly basis and share accordingly in the harvest? What is the financial impact of the reduced transportation needs? How else could the community partner with such farms? The possibilities are exciting!

The TEDx video below clearly explains the scarcity of water. For example, in the USA 70% of the water is used in agriculture. Better ways to use water in agriculture is essential. => vertical farming suddenly is seen in a whole new light.

Here are some interesting links:

2019-12-27 • Fixing the Security Problem in Hout Bay, South Africa

by Jacques du Plessis

Security and safety is a vital issue for every community in South Africa. A prominent feature of the New South Africa, is the emergence of gated communities. But what about those who cannot afford to move into such security complexes? To date, there is no acceptable solution to provide an umbrella of security and safety to those who cannot afford the electrified security fences, the 24/7 security staff, the hi-tech access control, etc.

The community of Hout Bay, just south of Cape Town represents the stark socio-economic contrast that South Africa offers. Homes in this small enclave range from multi-million dollar estates, to shanties wired together with wood palates and corrugated metal sheets, with dirt floors. The shanty towns in South Africa often grow organically as part of uncontrolled mass urbanization of the rural populations in South Africa, and the destitute from other African countries. The Penzance estate, depicted below had up to 8 house invasions in a week. From 2010 - 2014, stories were plentiful of crime incidents in the area, e.g. https://www.iol.co.za/news/hout-bay-doc-robbers-always-come-back-1689216 .

That is when one resident decided to change things. She lobbied her neighbors to join her in securing their neighborhood. Through a community effort a fence was erected and crime dropped by 30%. Fast forward to today. She developed an app that brought the whole community together. You can report a crime, medical emergency, a fire, suspicious activity, a traffic issue, a snake, municipal service request, and "other". At the most basic level, an incident report notifies all those in the same area. This lead to pick-pockets being apprehended quickly and other crimes were addressed quickly due to the network of community participation. Another level added was a control center, with one or more super users interacting with one of 30 agencies to address the issues, such as the ambulance, the fire department, mountain rescue, etc. Another layer was added when communities came together to buy cameras for public places. These street cameras feed into a control room to enable live tracking of incidents as they unfold. There is also a automobile license plate verification system. Over 10,000 vehicles are checked daily, and only vehicles with issues (e.g. fake lic. plate) create a flag. There is also a logging system, and the data is compared with past incidents to determine patterns and flag potential problems. The efficiencies of bringing the community together, and developing the technical and social infrastructure to track and respond to all incidents has done a complete turnaround of the years of high crime stats. Real estate prices have more than doubled. Gated communities and open suburbs work together, security companies all participate and the app id deployed everywhere to work towards equalizing access to service and protection.

Some key questions remain : Who manages the policy that governs the use of the data generated? How transparent is the process to allow the public to scrutinize privacy concerns?

2019-11-29 • Fixing the Bio-Degradable Process

by Jacques du Plessis

Methane (CH4), a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2). Food waste is a significant source of greenhouse gasses due to the release of methane. About 18% of municipal landfills are food waste (see https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/Why-Anaerobic-Digestion.pdf ). and 30% of land waste is biodegradable (See http://wasatchresourcerecovery.com/faqs/#toggle-id-5 )

Food waste is a problem that can be solved effectively. In the movie below, it is stated that 40% of all food production, never makes it to your plate. This movie focuses on the solution to not throw away edible food that now land in the dumpster due to technicalities, but to develop distribution networks to alleviate the hunger of about 40 million Americans. This movie offers superb ideas to activate new ways of doing to avoid food waste.

Being from Africa, it was a common moral value with most families not to waste food. As a consumer, you did not put on your plate anything you are not committed to eat. If we can make that value not to let food go to waste on our plates, we will change more that the food in the kitchen trashcan. It will raise an awareness of the energy used, the transportation costs, and the labor on and off the land to provide us with food. This new respect for food will empower us as a nation to take other key steps to create more sustainable cycles.

Secondly, still in the home, we can improve the presorting of our trash. The first step has become common: recyclable trash (paper, glass, plastics) and general trash, which includes biodegradable items. The next step is to isolate the biodegradable material from general trash. There are programs to help individuals or neighborhoods create rich compost. However, this can be funneled, along with food waste from stores, hotels, and factories, into an anaerobic digester. For an example, see http://wasatchresourcerecovery.com/about/ . This Salt Lake City facility captures the methane gas, turns it into natural gas and sells it to create electricity for a community of about 40,000 people. This is a commendable public-private partnership.

Videos to illuminate the Food Waste Problem:

2019-11-29 • The Role of Money in Recycling

by Jacques du Plessis

Money back for returns - part of the gig economy?

Fondly I recall my youth in South Africa; how, after a rugby match, we would scour the terrain for empty Coke bottles. You came prepared with a sack, to drag your harvest off to the cafe (similar to a 7-11 in the US), and to make some handy cash. Today in South Africa, the cardboard collectors are prominent (See https://citizen.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/informal-recycling-557x418.jpg ).

The image above indicates the states that have bottle deposit laws. What can we learn from these initiatives and how these laws have helped with recycling? The resources below is posted to stimulate your thinking about the differences between them, the varying degrees of success, the initiatives to improve legislation, and how other states can be encouraged to consider 'bottle bills'.

The big picture:

Michigan:

Oregon:

Connecticut

Vermont

Hawaii

Iowa

New York

Massachusetts

Maine

2019-11-18 • Infrastructure

by Jacques du Plessis

Who pays, and how do we pay for infrastructure?

Group A — We all need it. Not all are able to afford it. By pooling the tax burden, a collective tax system shares the burden to enable the development of the service.

Group B — The service or infrastructure is not needed by all. As a selective or optional development, those who need it carry most or all of the costs.

The Amazon Prime image below is a modern example of Group B. You pay your "tax" (membership fee) and if we have enough collectivity here, my fee for Prime, will be like insurance — not all will use more of the service than they pay, so there is a collective subsidy effect, to allow all to benefit. You have the emergence of a virtual library at your fingertips -- immediate access to virtual audio, print and video materials. Will this service replace the need for a public library to its subscribers? So, the public library is clearly a Group A infrastructure and here is a Group B option to rival its mission. We will watch and see how this develops. Statistica (see https://www.statista.com/statistics/546894/number-of-amazon-prime-paying-members/ ) reports 105 million Prime members in the USA. Clearly, many people have chosen this option. How does this impact the public library needs?

Amazon Prime, does have competition, sort of. The partial competitors,each offer a piece of the multimedia pie, like Pandora for audio, Disney for video, and maybe Google for the reading portion, and Ebay for the online shopping. Then there is Facebook, trying to build their Libra initiative. (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVWy_LKHl5g for fresh details about this challenge, including privacy. We are watching many layers of disruptions competing to capture you and me in their ecosystem. All of this depends on the digital infrastructure.

The Digital Infrastrucutre

2019-11-16 • Green Certification

by Jacques du Plessis

Certification is a valuable instrument, and if applied wisely, this can be an ideal tool to bring about positive change in a community, whether it be a neighborhood or a country.

The idea is focused on GREEN CERTIFICATION. How do you get a city to reduce waste, to become amateur garbologists so that every item discarded so thought about, and as time passes, better decisions are made. This could mean to recycle appropriately, to drive for new avenues of recycling, such as bio-degradable composting as an option. It could mean to avoid the packaging in the first place. It means to avoid one-time use products like plastic cutlery or plates. ... a perpetual quest to shrink the feed to the city dump.

This is where a green certification can make a big difference. Universities can have internal competitions to drive for green certification by department or division. Universities can compete with each other. Small business can become compliant and use that compliance as part of their branding. Larger businesses could do the same. The food industry could fully engage and change the way they package products; the can educate shoppers, and policy could be adopted to charge a disposal tax on products that are using single-use plastics. Counties could join the green certification drive. States could do the same, and the federal government could provide tax incentives to focus the endeavor.

The big picture is the effect of compliance. the increase in having environmental sustainability, to improve the quality of our air, our rivers, our soil and of course the health of our population, our animals and our environment at large.

Green certification for business:

For Buildings

Universities:

2019-11-07 • Traffic Congestion

by Jacques du Plessis

The challenge of traffic congestion is a wonderful challenge to take on. Transportation has so many amazing variables to address — from the immediate to long-term objectives. It is essential to explore a few of the variables to consider —

Essential / Wealth and Capacity / Pollution / Infrastructure / Land availability / Political Will and Vision, etc.

  • Is travel necessary?

Can the travel be avoided by considering a virtual meeting, or can the travel be postponed? If travel has to happen, errands can be done in one trip with the itinerary well designed to cover all the venues most efficiently.

  • Wealth and Means

If you are wealthy, you travel when it pleases you. You travel in a customized fashion, possibly using an new expensive vehicle that is not fuel efficient and has a high insurance premium — think of only one person in a big SUV going less than a mile away for a quick errand.

If you have to watch you wallet, finances does force the traveler to opt for a smaller, more fuel efficient car, or using a moped or bicycle, or even walking or being part of a ride share, or using a taxi, Uber or LYFT. And lately, checking out a bicycle or electric scooter.

  • Pollution

I think of New Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Salt Lake City, just to name a few. If transportation is not done better, sometime much better, the health impact will continue to escalate. If transportation contributes to a health threat, it is not sustainable and changes have to be prioritized. What to do? ... that is the topic of a future blog post.

  • Infrastructure

Countries in the developing world have so many critical issues to address with very limited resources, so it is common to find terrible traffic problems — lack of freeways, potholes, traffic lights not working, etc. When I traveled in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, the cars were packed so tight, you were not only bumper to bumper, but rear view mirrors just missed each other. Yet, no road rage. It is no use. In all these places, if you get your nose in first, you have the right of way. The sad thing is, ambulances have no way to move faster either. Because these places lack consistent delivery of electricity, maintenance and repair of traffic equipment and roads, and the financial capacity to implement a plan to provide solutions to meet demand. In Nairobi, Kenya, I could have gotten to the airport faster on a bicycle.

I found Port au Prince, Haiti to be even worse than African cities. The pollution (air, land, and water) is alarming. Given the governmental dysfunction, the people invented within their means to get by. Motorcycles are proliferating, and so are the injuries because drivers take chances and lose the fight against cars or trucks. Congestion is the thief of time. Productivity is lost, pollution in increased, and it makes sense that improved transportation will improve income and be positive to the economy.

  • Land Availability

In cities with lots of land, and relatively low populations, the trend is to widen the roads and to act as if the answer is to always expand traffic capacity. In very congested cities, the cost is so high that alternatives become more attractive. The sooner we move towards a model that works towards efficiency of the system, rather than assume the individual in his/her car is the departure point, we will have better results.

  • Vision and Political Will

With right, politicians are fearful to be bold. It is not the brilliance of the idea that matters, but the ability to raise the awareness of urgency of needing to change, to build trust in the vision and the outcome, and to build momentum and collaboration to rapidly expand the ownership of the vision. Should we really rely on an elected official or two to have to come of with the best solutions possible? I find this reliance on politicians to do the thinking and only valid path forward myopic. My advice to elected officials — create social infrastructure to bring creative minds together, to blow fresh air into the debates and use universities to focus research on critical topics, such as this ...

See youtu.be/vNyQQ_aLwfQ (Stats on time spent in traffic congestion)

In a future blog, we will explore payment systems, unifying public and private options, and introducing micromobility to address among others, the last mile dilemma.

2019-10-29 • AI and Cities

by Jacques du Plessis

I have seen Artificial Intelligence (AI) in action in controlled environments — it is very exciting. Today I was reading an article (US News & World Report), urging cities to get serious about AI and to invest their energies here. The article focused on the readiness of cities based on 4 things: vision, Activation, Asset base, and Trajectory and Development. All the cities evaluated lacked high scores in all 4 areas.

Automation in production is doing very well. The pressure is on to produce more, cheaper and faster. Robots and cobots (robots working collaboratively with humans) are doing well on the shop floor and this industry is well established. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhBSaVsMvgE for a good illustration of this area. See this video as an introduction to cobots (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDaliVMCIl4 )

It is useful to compare the shop floor versus the city. The shop is under pressure to be optimally productive (competition is the driver). The environment is focused and can be controlled. This is an ideal setting to implement automation. On the other hand, the governance layer of the city is not a competition, but more a sense of doing well within the budgetary constraints. Hence, there is not the same pressure as on the shop floor. Rather, there is a clear incentive to play it safe. I would not want to be the mayor who makes the decision to automate and to make a huge investment, and then to find out the ideal and the reality did not match well and the project failed. So, if only another city would go first and succeed, then I could learn from that and be safer in taking that leap into the 4th industrial revolution's gravitational pull. This "you first" mindset is further amplified by the scarcity of smart developers. The powerful mega tech companies are first in line to snatch away these promising developers without the city's ability to counter offer.

As a start, we have to make sure our leadership is aware of the value of AI; that they have understand the impact of AI, and they have to grasp the need to open data for AI to forage; yet, develop and implement policies to protect privacy. It is time for cities to take on the AI challenge. Waiting for other to succeed and then to follow is not ideal strategically. It is a systematic path to invest in people to develop the skills, the know-how and the experience to eventually deliver. If you want the orchard to impress with the yield, get busy planting the trees.

2019-10-29 • Linear versus Circular: A Fundamental Mindshift

by Jacques du Plessis

My exploration along the lines of smart city possibilities, priorities, and challenges, highlighted the concept of a circular economy. Linear has the following path: production - use - discard. When I visited Haiti, the lack of infrastructure highlighted the problem; after use all waste ended up in the streets, and especially in the riverbeds, waiting for the rainstorms to wash the tons of garbage out to sea. That is ugly linear. How about pretty linear? That would be the American city. After use, garbage is placed in huge garbage bins on the curb. A big truck comes by to collect it and it is gone, magic! No unsightliness, no stain on the land. Wait! Really? Let's replay that one again.... So the trucks collect the tons of garbage in the city and takes it to the city dump. After about 30 years, the dump is so large, it is "full". It is then capped; covered with dirt, with pipes sticking out of it all over to help the methane and other gasses escape, This environmental tumor (ET) is then covered with green grass as a "pretty hill" and we open up the next future "pretty hill" (a.k.a. the next environmental tumor or ET).

Is this process unavoidable? At least, we need to recognize that this path is not sustainable, and the "comfort and convenience first" mindset has to be disrupted. A smart city will have to explore ways to drastically slow down this process and never be content at finding ways to slow it down even more...

This post is to note myopic examples to spawn creative thinking as we attempt the big picture. I do believe it is the collective effect we are after, with lots of little victories collectively making a significant impact to reduce the tonnage going to the dump every day.

Example: In August 2019 I was in Italy, visiting a graveyard in a medieval village. As I now look back, I realize the circular system the Italians have developed in processing the remnants of community members. This is in contrast with the linear path in the USA. In Italy the tombs are above ground, stacked like drawers in a bank vault. You die, you get your drawer. It is sealed, your name and details are added to the outside, and then about two centuries later, your remains are transferred to the ossuary. The space then becomes available for the next coffin. Because space has been historically limited, it was natural to develop a circular system. In regions with lots of land, the system is linear; the remains are enterred and that is the 'permanent' resting place of that deceased person.

Housing is by nature circular. Person A lives in a dwelling, eventually moves on, and another inhabits the space, and so on repeatedly. It makes sense to build durable homes. If you build cheap, less permanent structures, you reduce the cycles, and then this building becomes rubble, and adds to the city's ET. If we build a durable house, we significantly add to the number of cycles the house offers. This makes sense.

Example: Roofing materials — In Italy, the roofs are covered with terra cotta tiles. These tiles have a long life, and once they end their service, they are not toxic to the environment and do not have to contribute to the city's ET. In my native Africa, a popular choice for roofing is corrugated galvanized metal sheets. If maintained, these roofs can last between one and two centuries. (I notice these sheets are becoming thinner and thinner over time, just like soda cans, and that reduces the lifespan of the product). Recycling of these metal sheets is viable. Now we come to the USA, and the product of choice is asphalt tiles. It lasts between 15 and 30 years. As quoted in Wikipedia, the report "Environmental Issues Associated with Asphalt Shingle Recycling" found that :

  • Approximately 11 million tons of asphalt shingle waste is generated each year in the United States

  • The most common disposal method for asphalt shingles in the US is landfilling. Waste asphalt shingles do, however, offer a strong potential for recovery and recycling with uses in hot mix asphalt (HMA), cold asphalt patching, and as a fuel in cement kilns.

  • The main environmental concern in recycling asphalt shingles is the rare presence of asbestos in shingles manufactured before 1980. Asbestos was also used in some felt paper, roll roofing, roof paint, roof coating, caulking, and mastic.

  • Asphalt naturally contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) some of which are carcinogenic and may put recycling workers at risk. Leaching and airborne PAHs have remained below detectable levels in most testing.

Clearly, we treat the production to sale of shingles in one category, and then we place the removal and discarding or recycling in another category. We have to look at the full life cycle of the shingle in one cycle. The recycling tax on shingles should be separated out in a dedicated pot of money. That money should then be used to fund the return of used shingles, and the recycling process. If this cost never changes, then the tax covers the effective post-life of the shingle, and we will not end up with 11 million tons of ET fodder. If this tax ignites a thriving industry, the tax may be reduced and possibly even eliminated.

This recycling tax is a big deal, It makes the manufacturer, the consumer and the recycler partners is a circular economy. Without this money, the cycle is broken, and the consumer wants to dispose of the waste as cheaply as possible. We can avoid designing a culture to stick it to another, i.e. our environment, and consequently we are sticking to to ourselves and especially our posterity.

A smart city has to take the circular mindset seriously. Every one of us living in cities have to assume this mindset and push for change.

Below is a list mainly focused on construction sector to support the movement towards circular:

2019-10-16 • Plastic in the Smart City

by Jacques du Plessis

If we have all this high tech, with traffic flowing well, apps to guide us to the best parking spot, and lots of things automated to save time and money, etc. but we do not change our voracious consumption of plastic, we are not being wise—and if we are not wise, what's the use of smart?

A top priority is to get rid of single-use plastics, and it is all about packaging. Can we change our shopping experience? Can we insist on being offered a plastic-free choice? How can we get the largest offenders to move in this direction (Think Wallmart, Wallgreens, Krogers, Aldi, Meyers, Home Depot, etc.)?

Most of the plastics break down after centuries into smaller and smaller pieces, but they never become compost, or anything that is bio-friendly. It becomes micro-plastic and as nano-particles they pollute the air, the water and the soil. These particles can become so small that they can travel through the skin barrier and even the brain barrier. The following research tells us what happens when plastic nanoparticles mess with the brains of fish: https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/articles/2017/10/09/report-microplastic-can-penetrate-fishs-brains-altering-behavior. Here is an article about microplastic in human guts: https://www.salon.com/2018/10/23/viral-microplastic-consumption-study-reveals-how-little-we-know-about-plastic-toxicity-experts-say/. Not only the gut, but it is small enough to go to the brain, and we are only starting to understand the negative impact on life this bio-pollutant is responsible for. https://phys.org/news/2018-02-land-based-pollution-microplastics-underestimated-threat.html. The following TED-Talk resources will offer great insights: https://ideas.ted.com/what_plastic_item/

This is not a luxury cause. Rarely do large corporations initiate a path that is a pioneering path, fraught with risk to the bottom line and not yet proven financially. If is is easier, quicker and makes more money — sure; otherwise, let someone else be the pioneer so we can learn from them and avoid the risk.

This is where the mobilization of the public plays a vital role. Simply put — if there is a drastic swing in public expectations and we demand the move away from single-use plastic, the corporate pioneers stand lots to gain. It will mean a lot for their branding efforts and their efforts to show care for us all will be profitable.

How are we going to do it? Please watch the documentary linked below. This will show you that it is possible. You can start right away. Every time you go to the store, ask for the manager, and ask them what their corporate strategy is to reduce singe-use plastic. If enough customers were to 'bother' them with this request, their pat answer of "I will look into it" will not suffice. They will send the message up the plastic chain. As this chorus swells, the attention to this matter will become a priority.

The link below is a group in the UK that have become experts at how to transform the packaging industry to avoid single-use plastic as the default. It is expedient that we be wise; now that is really smart!

2019-10-08 • Circular Economy — A new way of looking at the "Bang for your Buck"

by Jacques du Plessis

Lately I have been deeply troubled by one key problem -- the linear economy. We produce, use, and toss. It is not sustainable to throw some dirt over a mountain of toxic trash, and just start another one, and in a decade or so, repeat the process. This system is not sustainable and because the previous generations did not think beyond their own use, they made us inherit mountains of trash. Gone are the days of paying off corrupt officials in developing nations, to go dump our trash on their land. We have to close the loop! So, let me be a futurist for a moment. Yesterday, and still today, the bottom line is profit. You produced your widget, beat the competition, ... you know the story, better product, best price, work the consumer's perception of the world to favor your product, and you land on top of the money hill. ... yet, you were not answerable for the trash hill that your product eventually created.

There is a new awareness, a new way of thinking is taking root. It is going to revolutionize the supply chain. Till now, the supply chain was focused on the process: starting at conception and ending with selling the widget. That is the classic linear economy. Produce, Sell, Use, Discard. The new economy is circular. The thinking is about to break from the linear process. How can the waste be reused, cycled into another process, or broken down again in raw elements and cycled back into the next product? Here is an example. At the store LIDL in Germany, you return your old plastic bottles for a 25c credit, and they show you the process (image below). If you visit their website (https://www.lidl.de/de/umwelt-recycling/s7377415 ) it is clear that they have a focus on microplastics.

So, here is how the new way of thinking will work. As a producer, I have to think of the end-of-life of my product. Electronics stores, for example, will design their supply chain to receive back the sold and now decommissioned products. They will have an intentional plan to recycle. As we embrace the cyclical concept, and retire the linear buy-use-dump mindset, we will have a clear idea what will happen to spent product. In this vain, a company may drastically change their designs. Say I produce cell phones, and I sell you the service, rather than the product. You pay $X.xx per month, and your current phone has a shelf life of say 5 years. At the end of cycle you bring the phone back and get a new phone. It is the company then that has to design and plan for the cycle. It would be in their interest to carefully look at the design — to consider assembly, as well as the inevitable disassembly and reuse.

Printers would want to look for eco-friendly alternatives to coated papers and laminates that would make the product unfriendly to recycling. There has to be policies in place to tax for the end-of-life process of such bio-unfriendly choices. How can that cool look of the glossy finish, or the laminate be achieved (if at all needed) without the knock to the ecology?

Once consumers drive the change, we will be in good shape. As a consumer, start looking at "zip-lock" bags and pose questions beyond the convenience-only question we ask today. If there is not a clear end-of-life plan, it is not acceptable. Consumers have to scrutinize how restaurants package their take-out meals, etc. and demand eco-friendly alternatives, or go where that request is respected.

I will conclude with my take on nuclear reactors. Initially it was seen as a cheap source of energy. Now we look at the linear mindset, and we end up with radio-active waste that will remain a problem for thousands of years. (See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spent_nuclear_fuel). Back in the linear supply chain thinking, you just did not worry about it. "Somebody will take care of it" Now the answer is clear, this is not smart, and creating more and more of this spent fuel is a curse. It is time to close the loop!

Resources:

2019-09-23 • 360 Economy - Construction Materials

by Jacques du Plessis

This is just an opening statement to a discussion that will be protracted and extensive. The creativity in this area is vast and very exciting. My journey started in the 1980s. I followed the construction of homes in South Africa, using a lego block concept. I have lost contact with the South African team, but I see there is a French company using a similar concept: https://www.brikawood-ecologie.fr/home/ .

Then I got passionate about straw-bale construction. In the early 19902, my wife and I did a memorable tour through southern Arizona and New Mexico. In short, these homes are easy to build, the walls have impressive R-values, they are fire resistant. It is very quiet inside and they do well in earthquake country. The big caveat -- no moisture in the walls, or you have problems. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw-bale_construction as a start.

In August 2019 I visited Wikkelhouse in Amsterdam, NL (See the blog for Aug 28 below). They build segments that are all the same dimensions so you can use as many segments as you like. Each segment is wrapped in cardboard. They are very study and well insulated. There are three basic segments: (1) the façade (end units) that can have what you need like a door, window, or a solid wall if you wish. (2) The generic unit — this unit is simply floor, wall, and ceiling; used to extend the size of a room. They can be customized to have port windows inserted, or a woodstove as examples. (3) The technical unit is the final and costly unit. It contains the electrical nerve center, the water nerve center, the toilet and shower, the washing machine, and on the other side of this unit you attach your kitchen (water and electricity and braces for shelving and cupboards. These folks are very environmentally conscious and they are constantly improving their processes. Soon they will expand their operations to Chile. Visit them at https://wikkelhouse.com/

Hemp in the use of construction is promising. See https://www.hempitecture.com/ . The Dutch are also very innovative and active in building with hemp. See PDF Slide Show.

The next innovation used rammed earth. It uses about 8% cement with the compressed earth. Here is a good link: https://www.diyhomesteadprojects.com/product/rammed-earth-basics/ and here is a recommended VIDEO on Youtube.

As I said, this posting is just an opening volley, and we consider many methods of construction. Some focus on the best energy efficiency, but their materials are not considering recycling and being bio degradable. Others have a strong focus on avoiding chemicals, and using natural materials, and to be energy efficient. Others consider cost, mass production, and modularity.

2019-09-19 • 360 Economy - Coffee Cups

by Jacques du Plessis

My trip to Europe and Africa delivered in surprising ways. I was expecting these well-funded, large-scale deployments of impressive new visions-in-action. What impressed me, however; was the ways in which sometimes small problems are honed in on, and as you step back, it was not a small problem at all, but it had a profound impact. Once such issue is coffee cups — 16 billion of them every year. The good news is, the cup itself is now made of paper, and that is more bio degradable. The lids are still plastic. So, anyone willing to accept 16 billion lids every year? This is where the Dutch company Groasis comes in. Once of their inventions has changed that. Watch this video and appreciate the innovation and the impact this will have if we get more people on board to make this happen ...


2019-09-09 • 360 Economy - Recycling, ... time for an upgrade in Wisconsin

by Jacques du Plessis

I am surprised that most people I talk with in Wisconsin know that it is really not a good idea to throw batteries in the trash and that it is important to properly dispose of them. However, when I ask where one would take batteries for recycling, there are few who know where to go. Other countries have shown some good options about recycling batteries. This is an area where we should all come together on.

1. It should be common knowledge where to take batteries.

2. Doing so should be as convenient as possible.

Drop boxes would be welcomed at locations such as universities, schools, food stores, hospitals, public buildings and hardware stores, Another idea would be to have a special drop box attached to the neighborhood Little Free Library, with an arrangement with the recycle management companies to serve these locations. What about if the postman could collect them on the first Friday of every month? It is time. We won the battle about smoking in public buildings. Now it is time to find a solution that works and to bring the disposal of used batteries to the people.

The examples below. I took these pictures at the FNAC store in France and in Italy (Aug/Sept 2019).

2019-08-28 • Amsterdam - Disrupting the concept of Housing

by Jacques du Plessis

I have watched their videos on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C42Wg2JDRmc&pbjreload=10 ) and today I had to honor to visit the factory in Amsterdam. What I love about these guys is that they are constantly innovating every aspect of their construction. As they said, they are like Google, constantly rethinking and the iterative process continues. They have homes all over Europe. Their next step is to start manufacturing in Chile. What I love about the design is that it is assembling the segments of a worm, You decide on the face of the worm, how long you want your worm to be and there you go. They have three basic segments. The first is the facade - this is the front and back ends. Each can be altered with windows and solid panels and a door (or not). Then the standard module gives floor and wall space. This segment is the cheapest and is used to enlarge the room to the desired size. Windows can be added to any of these general segments. The final segment is the technical segment. It is the most expensive. It contains the shower, the electrical heart, hot water heater, washing machine and the heat exchanger. On the back end of the technical segment is everything you need for your kitchen, sink, stove and electical outlets. You hook on your shelves, countertop and cabinets. If desired, there is also the possibility to add a wood stove in the house. There is also a design to deliver an off-the-grid house as well.

So, once the segments have been constructed, you level the desired site, lay down concrete cross bars, like railway logs, then you lay down two wooden beams, like two railway tracks, and the house is placed on these beams -- off the ground. The elegance and simplicity is very appealing.

I think the wikkelhouse will play in the same space as tiny houses in America. I am curious to see how this house will impact the conversation of housing in the future.

Personally I can visualize a cluster of these houses with a common area for outside recreation, entertainment, and for growing produce to bond the community. Visit their site as wikkelhouse.com.

2019-08-28 • Amsterdam - Public Exercise Equipment

by Jacques du Plessis

In both Frankfurt and Amsterdam I saw ample examples of exercise equipment in parks. In the image, the red rings turn, so it is more difficult to progress from one end to the other. (I made it more than half way).

I would go beyond just placing the equipment there for use. I would have a yearly competition for different ages, I would do expositions, maybe dress up mister super fit as an old man (like on Youtube) and impress the crowds. This is a vehicle to encourage exercise and fitness. It has to be integrated into a plan to highlight the equipment and celebrate the use of it — for all ages. Create a YouTube channel to expand on the creative ways exercises can be done. I think of the great work by Frenchman, Olivier Lafay on doing exercises, using your body weight, rather than the need of gym equipment. The idea to me — excellent opportunities to exercise accessible to all. This ties in so well with equipment publicly provided so that access is ensured.

2019-08-28 • Amsterdam - Dutch Innovations (part 2)

by Jacques du Plessis

A key part of the success is to get the community involved. That means that some now know, others know even more, and have this topic to share in their social interactions. Then there are those who are more than intrigued; they wish they can provide input. This brings me to the classic problem of traditional thinking — people are appointed as officials in local government and then despite being overworked, they are still expected to be the fresh thinkers of tomorrow's solutions. Because they just do not have the mental real estate available to do the thinking that is required, they go to conferences to be persuaded by vendors, who did their thinking for them, and they are eager to buy the offerings of a vendor. This is often a solution that locks out other ideas, and because of the financial commitment, thinking moves to implementation, and there we limit ourselves to that solution for quite some time. Welcome to vendor lock-in.

Would it not be a better ecosystem if we were able to create collaborative thinking at the community level and to connect local government and the best thinking that comes from those who voluntary want to engage? That is what Amsterdam is doing. They have community ideation fests, and they collaborate with the original thinkers to take these ideas to seriously consider operational options.

The point: it matters how we organize ourselves, how we allow or exclude people from the process. Can we avoid the default political behaviors where vendors get cozy with politicians to seal the deal? Can we use people to clarify our policy needs for privacy, for transparency and accountability? Smart City thinking offers new opportunities to be the revolutionary you never knew you were :-)

2019-08-27 • Amsterdam - Dutch Innovations (Part 1)

by Jacques du Plessis

Yesterday I explored Frankfurt, and the short of it is, they are more conservative in their approach, and just starting to gear up to take on their smart city agenda. What I liked in what I saw was in transportation — the layers of service: an extensive underground network, a tram network, a bus network, taxis, bicycles, and four or five brands of electric scooters (the new rage). The expanded set of options were similar in Amsterdam, except that they have a bicycles on steriods situation, and I have yet to see electric scooters. Umm ... I love the dedicated bicycles lanes and how busy they are.

I visited an organic recycling education facility in the harbor area. The idea is to take most of your kitchen waste and to turn it into wonderful food for the worms, and of course worms does wonders to create compost to really make things grow. Simple point then. Vermicomposting is a smart way to reduce waste and is a key block for urban agriculture and a circular economy.

2019-08-21 • Autonomous vehicles for public transportation

by Jacques du Plessis

I remember my first experience with the shuttle on rails at the Atlanta airport — with shock and surprise I realized there is no driver on board. I had to shift gears mentally to feel safe and accept this as a viable option. Ever since, I have been just fine hopping on the driverless shuttles at airports. But now comes the next generation of driverless -- shuttles on the road.

I can foresee all the main corridors of major cities being serviced with autonomous shuttles, replacing some of the standard bus services. This can then be tied to an app, where you activate your itinerary, and the collective result is rendered with AI to optimally serve peak and slow demands responsively. As this system improves, the average commuter who often avoids public transportation because it is too slow, will now have a new experience of flow; we will all be persuaded to step into this system, because the system will know and respond to every commuter's itinerary to offer the best commute possible route and time configuration.

We all know, expanding the road system is not sustainable. Wider freeways? Not the answer. We have to travel smarter.

This article appeared today in smartcitiesworld.net "Singapore launches first on-demand public trial of autonomous shuttles". Here is a line from that article, "Singapore has launched its first on-demand autonomous shuttle public trial at Sentosa. On-road testing of the shuttles began in June 2018 and the public trial will run from 26 August to 15 November."

The horses are out of the barn. Autonomous vehicles will be part of public transportation in the future. But the article says, "Shuttles will have a safety driver who is trained to take over immediate control of the vehicle should the need arise. The safety driver is further supported by a vehicle fault system that will immediately alert the safety driver of any faults and cede control of the AV to the safety driver.". ... makes me think -- in the early days of the elevator, there was an elevator operator on each elevator. Will we look back years from now and remember the good old days when autonomous vehicles had that safety guy on board?

2019-08-16 • Ben Green's Book "The Smart Enough City"

by Jacques du Plessis

Below is the podcast where Ben makes the same point we have heard in education for years.

In education there often is a big hype about new technologies, without a grounded reason for the adoption. In this podcast, Ben Green makes the same point in the context of deployment of technology in cities. He warns that we have to be alert not to bow to vendors just to be progressive. Ask ourselves constantly, what is the problem we want to solve. I like his example of the city of Columbus, Ohio. They got a grant from the US Department of Transportation, and rather than go all out with the latest and greatest in technology, they did an analysis of their unique pain points, how to address equity, and then rolled out a more modest plan that suited their particular needs much better.

As you can already tell, I agree with the points Ben makes. I want to introduce a complexity we have to recon with as well — Fundamental research. Sometimes research introduces a whole new way of thinking and doing and it washes like a wave over the old way of doing. The internal combustion engine did it for transportation in a bigger way than the steam engine did. Now we look at electric and hydrogen fuel cell technologies to do the same. Pierre Curie did fundamental research, and once they knew what they had, they (and everybody else) could start to deeply reflect about the affordances of X-ray technology. Digital technology in the context of global communication networks is redoing so much of how we do things, and new things we can do that were never possible before. So, IoT, big data, and AI is and will be a wave we have to fully embrace, and in that context, get back to Ben's advice, rather than taking Ben's advice first, and then not explore the affordances waiting to be used, because we "do not see a problem".

2019-07-04 • Smart because we are aware ...

by Jacques du Plessis

Let's start with links to a few samples of images and articles of what humans do to the earth:

Of course the links above are a mere sampling of the dumb things we do to the earth. Law and order has its limits. If country A rides a boat into the sunset to dump barrels of radio active waste into the ocean after midnight, how do we catch them? How do we police that? If country B is rotten with corruption and poverty, and their waste management is virtually non-existent, and all the waste ends up in the rivers, and they wait for the monsoon season to flush it out to sea, how do we police this impact on all of us, rich and poor? When the powerful do fracking and mess up the underground water system, who do we turn to? It seems to be about power, or the lack thereof that forces us to live with other's lack of alternatives, or their ignorance or greed at humanity's expense.

Version 2.0 of a smart city vision and mission needs to see the city as a key player to push back, to connect to the bigger consequences of our action. My purpose with this blog is to share a painful realization. I was once talking with an American friend. He married a lovely lady from another culture. Her country had a low GDP, and when he visited, he noticed to his disgust that that place was filthy. But he had to bite his tongue. He was in a foreign country. He was their guest, and he tried to understand. In essence, collectively they all had no hope for a cleaner world. There was no unified vision to keep the place clean. So, what do you do in that case? You kept clean what you could — your home. He saw people literally toss stuff like cans and banana peels out their windows into the street below. Everybody did that. But your home, now that is where you had control, so you kept it clean.

Are we any better? Take the advanced cultures of Europe, Asia and North America by comparison. We keep our homes clean. Yet, we go further, we keep our streets clean. In many cases we even keep our rivers clean. But where many of us fail, is that we still have the same problem. For example, one problem is that we use the same amount of plastic bottles. Whereas they just toss it where ever in their country, we at least gather it all up and make huge piles outside of town where after 30 year, we eventually cover it with dirt. Then we start a new pile that will be open for another 30 years, then we cover that one, and then we move one to the next. Do you see the point? We damage the earth in a more controlled way. ... with exceptions — like like Chicago with their Lawndale fiasco.

The vision we have to consider is to create a cyclical economy that reuses, that recycles, and that systematically shrinks this bio-unfriendly toxic waste to a fraction of the original — with a perpetual dissatisfaction with the generation of such waste, staying vigilant and smart and committed with political will, till we use smarter packaging, where we tax bio-unfriendly packaging to reveal the actual cost of using such materials, so that we can all collectively move our world to a biosphere that is lived in by smart caring humans.

2019-07-03 • Blockchain and Behavior Change

by Jacques du Plessis

As a child, before we all went crazy on plastic, I loved collecting bottles to return them for the deposit. It gave me a handy bit of pocket money, and unwittingly I was part of a recycling system to get the bottles back to where they could be reused. It reminds me of the 25c coin used to check out the shopping cart at ALDI's. This token system works. I want to take the cart back to get my token back so I can leave it in the car for next time. The monetary value of the token is not really the motivator to me. Since I do not have cash on me by default, I use my quarter to check out my shopping cart, so I have to keep track of the token.

If we enter the virtual world — I do something very desirable from a good citizen perspective, such as recycling, doing community service or using public transportation. I get a virtual token added to my wallet. Just like money back from using your credit card, the city can then allow me to use this token for something I need. They might offer a free trip on the public transportation system, or I could apply my token to my water or electricity bill. Talking about water ... if I stay below a certain water usage per household member, I get a token.

This is where blockchain comes in. The token will be issued and exchanged with blockchain. Just like I was motivated as a child to cash in the bottles for the deposit, we can alter behavior today and motivate people to do better. Another example: I go to Best Buy or the likes and get myself a big screen. The transaction is on blockchain. Years later I take the worn out screen back to Best Buy for recycling. This is good behavior, rather than taking it to the dump with my friend's pickup. Here we close the loop. Best Buy has been expecting old screens to be returned, and their recycling network is expecting my screen.

2019-06-24 • The Sails of this Ship

by Jacques du Plessis

I found a valuable set of variables to keep the movement and development of smart cities balanced and developing upon sound principles.

Each of these areas mentioned demand reflection, planning, and has to be addressed. This framework offers the prospect of good results and avoiding unintended consequences.

Not all can be delivered because they are considered. The success in some of these areas require other factors to be in place and readied for success. So, each practice area has to be understood on its own merits and in the context of the city context.

2019-06-13 • Health and 5G

by Jacques du Plessis

Is there a health risk with 5G? Remember when partially hydrogenated oils were freely used in foods, because it helped the foods to keep fresh longer. There was no problem. It was safe and we all consumed with pleasure. And then it was not. Suddenly trans fat was out. Then you saw this statement: The Food and Drug Administration has ruled that partially hydrogenated oils are no longer generally recognized as safe. Here from the back seat, I am not impressed. Was it not the FDA'a job to determine this in the first place, before allowing it to be freely used in food production? Well, it seems it was safe until it is found to be unsafe. How do you feel about the protocols and processes in the light of the convenience of the insights in retrospection? This reminds me of Radium Girls — how it used to be fine to use the self-luminous paint, until the horrors were known.

Here is my big question for the day

Are we going to rush ahead with 5G deployment, because this bus cannot be stopped; and then, if we find out the health risks do pan out to be true, then we will be bold to stand up for safety? Can we not do better than this? A quick Google search related to health risks and 5G, does not only lead to the den of conspiracy theorists, as some might suspect. How can we make health the first priority? Is it true that in many cases where eventually a product was proven to be unhealthy, we first had the industries set to gain from the use of the product promote it? Did they not hire expert opinions, lobbyists, and the likes to promote the safety of their products? Is it not often the case that those who raise the alarm are often fighting big business, even the government, and scoffed for their minority view?

I sure hope, that 10 years from today, we will not be looking back at this short simple blog post, and have regrets. ... that we did not insist on careful testing to ensure that the increase in RF Radiation exposure does not affect our health in any way.

There are several sites claiming that the health risk of 5G is a pure hoax. It is said that Russia does not want us to use 5G, and that fringe elements and the gullible are spreading fake news. Well, now is the time to cut back on the chatter and noise. No more 'strong opinions' from anyone, unless you have the data to bring some clear authority to the conversation.

Yes, I am not coming out on either side, and for some, that is already a problem. Polarization is a terrible thing. Just like in war, facts become the first casualty, and you are either with or against us. Reconsider the mistakes of the past, study the human patterns of using pressure, social pressure by those who do not know, but pretend to know, to push the other sheep over the cliff with them. My hope is that we will not move the proof of burden to those raising the alarm. Given the massive scale of this type of roll-out, is it best to say, "Let's use it, till there is proof it is not safe." or would it be better to say "Let us take the time, and do due diligence in our research to prove it is safe, and if the scientific community applaud the research and the findings, then we will deploy or not."

2019-05-31 • Let's grow HEMP!

by Jacques du Plessis

Of course, you think I am hinting at legalizing pot. No, no, ... not going down that path. However, the hemp plant, (and there are more varieties than the one destined to go up in smoke) can be used to make rope, construction materials, and supposedly can be used as an ingredient in granola bars. It is the construction materials portion that is of interest. In the Netherlands this production has gone places. Lime and hemp mixed for breathable walls. Then, many decades down the road, this wall of lime and hemp, can be ground up into fertilizer. This concept of rethinking a bio-focus on construction materials is lining up well with the concept of a smart city.

Here are some articles to launch your interest:

2019-05-27 • A Bigger Vision

by Jacques du Plessis

It is satisfying to find innovative solutions to improves the lives of many. Much will be written about many new areas of opportunity and potential. The one quote that comes back to me often, is the quote attributed to Lao Tzu. (quoted below). ... and I ask the question - How can we use all this innovation in thinking, in technology, in connectedness, and opportunity to improve peace?

Here is the quote by Lao-Tsu:

“If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.”

2019-04-13 • Transportation

by Jacques du Plessis

Comparing my personal travel experiences in the USA, Europe, Asia, and in my native Africa, the hand of government greatly impacts the permissible options. NY is known for its restrictive access to operate a taxi - with the famous medallion controlling the system. I want to explore some of the other cities I have visited. You be the judge about what is smart.

I will restrict the comparison to road. The variables to consider would include the investment in hardware to move one person.

NEW YORK, CHICAGO, LONDON, MILWAUKEE, SALT LAKE CITY, SAN FRANCISCO, SAN DIEGO, AMSTERDAM, ...

— The public systems are similar: train, metro, and bus. Salt Lake City impressed me with the deployment of its new light rail system. Their train, bus and light rail systems interface well. Important places are well served - the airport, downtown, the university of Utah, the ski resorts, etc. ...

The private system was dominated for years by the taxi. A comfortable and safe ride, and it do short or long distances - your call. It has air conditioning in the summer, it's heated in the winter and it does not take long to hail a cab. Is this service the best solution in the big city? Uber and Lyft now openly compete and the app on your phone makes for a very convenient service.

The rent-a-bike systems popping up offers convenience. I am still not perfectly happy with the pricing model. I would suggest shorter increments, say 10 minute rentals, rather than 30 minutes. In San Diego I stayed in the Barrio Logan district. I got on a bicycle and rode to the airport to catch my flight. What a novelty! Lately I see the electric scooter in many cities like Atlanta and San Diego. This model has promise.

It is always impressive to visit Dutch cities and see the persistence of their bicycle culture. It is encouraging to see many cities now sacrificing real estate on the road to create bicycle lanes.

JOHANNESBURG, DAR-ES-SALAAM, NAIROBI, CAPE TOWN

— Public: Johannesburg has a wonderful speedrail (Gautrain) from the airport to Johannesburg, Sandton, or Pretoria. Trains are mainly used for long distance commute, The cities have bus systems, but they are not heavily used.

— Private: Most commuters use minitaxis, or matatus as they are called in Kenya. These minivan taxis have a code of their own. See it as a communal taxi. They do not take you from door to door. They cover a general area and often will drop you off close to your destiny if it is out of the way. The fees are very reasonable. They work so well because they are always full, and with so many paying passengers, the price comes down. Sadly, these drivers have a poor track record for safety. If you were to Google "South African minivan taxi accidents" with images as the filter, you will understand. Lyft and Uber are very popular in South Africa as well.

MANILLA

— I was really intrigued by the options in Manilla. I just had to use the bicycle taxi - I went only a few blocks from my hotel to the zoo. After the ride I felt like I passed the initiation ceremony. Other options include motorcycle taxis. These vary in how many passengers they can take; sometimes just one or two, and sometimes there is a back seat, and another passenger or two can get on the motorbike as well. I was very impressed with the creative and free flow of Jeepneys, motorcycle and bicycle taxis, in addition to regular taxis for foreign tourists :-).

WUHAN, CHINA

— What impressed me in Wuhan was not only the number of motor cycles and scooters, but the common use of electric bikes and scooters. It was impressive to see their success and the contribution to reduce air pollution.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

— There were similarities between Manilla and Port-au-Prince. The Jeepney in Manilla was replaced by either an African style minivan taxi, or a converted pickup. A few year before the earthquake, the popularity of small motor cycles entered the taxi market - a classic is a passenger with lots of groceries. Due to the excessive pollution in Haiti, it would be a welcome change if they could switch from gasoline to electrical motorcycles. But then, the power supply is intermittent at best, so that poses another challenge.

The question is - what would a positive disruption look like that is realistic and reduces transportation's carbon footprint?

Many American cities epitomize the concept of private transportation - every driver owns their vehicle with the freedom to travel whenever and where ever. However, they have to take care of the purchase -- that is the upkeep, the repairs, and the operating costs. This model leads to congestion in larger cities and pollution is a growing concern. Compare that to the Netherlands, with its high-density population, where transportation flows better because of the mass-use of bicycles. In the States, cities like Atlanta default to private cars. This requires an expansive infrastructure, and pollution and expenses are real concerns. Uber and Lyft have been disruptive to the taxi industry, but the question is -- Has it changed who you use when you need to hail a cab

I am keeping in mind two areas of concern -- transportation based on burning fossil fuels, and improving the options for public transportation. The argument is simple - public transportation is more effective and the same amount of people are moved with fewer vehicles on the road. Back to greenhouse gas emissions -- the EPA states that 28.5% of greenhouse gasses in the USA come from the transportation sector, which is the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions (See https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions). A wider analysis of global cities seems to indicate that along the continuum of poverty to wealth, the solutions map accordingly. Where poverty abound, people have to walk more. When communities switch to using wheels, vehicles are either used privately or rides are offered for hire. The entry-level vehicle is the bicycle, or the transformed bicycle -- the tricycle; to carry more people and/or freight. Next is the moped and then the motorbike, both used as is or with a third wheel to extend its capacity, e.g. the Tuktuk. Then we go to four wheels with the automobile, ranging from small economical cars, to minivans. In the Phillipines, the Jeepny is bigger than the minivan, yet it does not quite match up to a regular bus. Busses can be double decker busses, or with trailer add-ons. The bigger the vehicle, the more it defaults to public transportation.

We have covered road transportation fairly well. Then there is rail, water and air. Air is not used for local transportation much, except to rush a patient to the hospital or to transport a rich executive across town. There is an emerging possibility -- the drone. The eHang company in China has developed a drone to transport people. As we now see the emergence of drones delivering medical packages, and other light-weight deliveries, the future might include a IoT-network of drones that are aware of each other, able to pick up and deliver humans, all remotely operated. Here is a video of the Chinese prototype passenger drone

-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCbGwxYiWug.

The next video does a comparison of passenger drones

-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tFG-uk3WcE .

The following videos will be a joy ride through technological innovations that impact either a small part of transportation as we know it, or it may open up the next phase of possibilities. Before we explore, I want to share my experience with computer storage. I remember the dual floppy disk IBM machines of the 1980s. Then we went form 5.25 inch to 3.5 inch disks with more storage. Then the era of hard drives started. I remember the 10 meg drives. That quickly went up to 30 megs, then 100 megs, ... 300 megs, ... 500 megs, and on and on. We were all talking about killing the floppy disk, yet there was no clear solution to this. And then, roughly in 2003, I held up one of the first generation USB drives, a 16 megabite drive, and I announced to my class at UWM, this is the floppy killer. I got it right, USB drives did indeed kill the floppy disk. Later, WiFi and cloud technology killed the need for disks and today I just do not use any plug-in disks anymore. Now, back to transportation innovation ....

The first video is a comparison of wheel innovations and possible applications. It is interesting to see how some of these innovations might make it main stream soon. For argument's sake, the loopwheel might replace costly shock absorbing systems. Here is the link to 7 innovations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ8nH8RdMYA

Before launching into e-bikes and automobiles, the replacement of the chain on a bicycle can be with a belt or a string. Both options seem to be a cleaner solution with equally sound benefits. Here is the link to a belt-driven bicycle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGxjE98TspI . There is the innovation to use string to drive the back wheel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gDDQU6Z5vo. Here is the company website: http://www.stringbike.com/stringbike_bike_sline.html.

The next video is about the GeoOrbital Wheel. It works on many bikes and scooters. You simply replace the conventional front wheel with the GeoOrbital wheel and you have power assist in cycling. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=203&v=i7HVVT9D5HY and here is the company website: https://www.geoo.com/pages/how-it-works

e-bikes

Custom built with ebike kits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83NKNA7Fj8c

EBike Kits: RearHub, FrontHub, or CentralMotor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuyIbjJFGik

Italian video of motorbike design with gyro stablization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wARJUo7HUOk

The ELF (viable urban transportation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=509&v=r_xDuHuk4_E

https://organictransit.com/product/elf-2fr/

bicycle taxi in Manilla



Discussion

I do not want to recommend suggestions, but I want to highlight some of the variables to consider.

  • The weather (cold, hot, wet, dry, windy, snow).

  • Distance (a block or two, a kilometer or two, tens or hundreds of kilometers.

  • Route flexibility (fixed routes, negotiated deviations, completely flexible trips)

  • Payers (many concurrent paying customers, one paying customer). Impacts flexibility.

  • Gas, diesel, electrical, hydrogen fuel cell, human powered.

  • Road or rail.

  • Footprint per passenger. (A taxi in New York for one person, versus the back seat on a motor cycle in Port-au-Prince, or a Side car tricycle in Manilla illustrates the point.

  • Pollution factor (fuel choice)

PROPULSION UPDATES

Gasoline engines switched to unleaded, and the catalytic converter impact pollution levels of decades ago.

Diesel technology is also improving despite the Volkswagen scandal. For example, see ClearFlame.

Battery technology is showing great promises, such as batteries holding their charge longer, batteries with an increased charge, faster charging times - from hours to minutes, more environmentally friendly materials used.

2019-04-12 • The Second Meeting of Academic Researchers

by Jacques du Plessis

At the second meeting of researchers we had 10 colleagues attending (less than a third of our research team). Finding the perfect time is a challenge. The most important result of this power hour, was the exercise to use the white boards for each to flag their research interests and then to add their names to the research of others. Then we looked for theme combinations and how much of what we presented could be integrated. The result was a few large themes, flagging some subthemes, and then selecting a convener to keep the momentum for each theme and other colleagues signing up based on their interests. The results were as follows:

Urban Resilience - Tracy

  • Economic ↣ disaster recovery (Tracy, Ivy, Jacques)

    • Employment ↣ insurance & avoidance

  • Infrastructure ↣ land use

  • Health & climate (Paul, Michael)

  • Nature (Hyejin, Paul, Michael)

  • Social networks – families

Inequality – Ivy

  • Environmental justice (Michael)

  • Social Justice (Ivy, Colleen, Shana, Noelle, Hyejin)

  • Digital inequality (Ivy, Hyejin, Tracy, Noelle)

  • Land use (Paul)

  • Transportation (Ivy, Jacques)

  • Health & Health Access (Colleen)

  • Education

  • Economic development (Hyejin, Tracy)

Future Challenges: Aging – Colleen

(Tracy, Ivy, Jacques, Hyejin, Noelle, Paul, Michael, Noelle, David)

  • Demographic structure

  • Age in place

  • Transport

  • Health care access/ Technological innovation

  • Recreation/social – consumer demand (Jacques)

  • Land use/building

Future Challenges: Technology – Jacques

(Paul, Tracy, Noelle, Michael, Hyejin)

This is a tech-centric investigation – exploring the affordances, and possible risks of each technology, to then explore implementation, adaptation, integration, etc. to serve SC objectives.

Also consider unintended consequences


2019-03-28 • The First Meeting of Academic Researchers

by Jacques du Plessis

At the first meeting of researchers interested in some aspect of Smart Cities, it was refreshing not to hear talk about the many challenges we face, but to share excitement about the potential we are offered by coming together around Smart Cities. It was encouraging to see the breadth in our research experience: transportation, blockchain, water, environment, etc. and to hear about the offerings of the many others, who might join our future meetings. One colleague noted that we are more engaged with each other and we know more about each other's research than would be the case back in their academic unit. This makes sense. It is our common interest that gathers us and we are eager to engage and share our expertise.

Our immediate task is to expand our network internally to all those researchers interested, to share with each other where our interest lies, to build community, and to get to know the problems and priorities of local government. We are off to a good start.

2019-03-28 • Designed for Data

by Jacques du Plessis

Iot (Internet of Things) or IoE (Internet of Everything) in the context of 5G sees a new world of potential opening up. It is a race; won by those who are strategic, those who focus and think ahead. These are they who creatively innovate and see the world differently and speed up their iterations of thought about future possibilities. They fluidly play with the affordances of these new environments and confidently exploit these affordances. To them it is about doing things differently, addressing the variables of better, faster, expanded capacity, automation, etc. But, there is a culture, and ambiance, and a spirit of can-do that fills the air around these pioneers.

Yet, with all this goodness, we have to face the data. These IoT devices generate a lot of data, all the time. Many companies are reactive and they gather the data without a clear vision. It is not clear why they are doing so, or what they are going to do with it. ... but the data they have to keep, so the IT shop comes back repeatedly to ask for more and more storage to keep this harvesting process humming. To me it feels like a yard sale that says "Everything for free!" Passers-by easily get caught up in the frenzy to grab whatever looks cool. The priority is to get it before others take it; however, you do not have a plan for this new stuff, you just feel you need to be first at the grabbing. In fact, as you woke up that morning before passing by the yard sale, you did not at all think about acquiring these items you now so vigorously captured. Umm ...

Some suggest we form data usage committees and to include those impacted. So, if this IoT device is on the factory floor, include those impacted. If the device is public facing, then include the public voice. Develop a strategy to consider all the important facets that you need to consider.

Security: What is the good that can come from opening this data to the public? ... or to academic researchers? Is there a case for opening the data? What is the possible harm that can come from doing so? etc. Is the device secure? What could happen if access is compromised?

Privacy: Does the IoT device intrude on privacy? Does it gather personal information? Do you have the permission of those implicated? Would the gathering of this data run into any privacy laws? Can you shield an individual's identity? Does the data reveal personal identifiable information? Have you had the conversations with those affected, with the legal team? Do you understand how the device can be tapped or controlled? Simply, once you have come to a decision, are you doing the right thing? Or are you doing the predictable thing - close off the decisions to the inner circle and what you are gathering and how you are securing the device is shared strictly on a needs to know basis.

Data scientists on the back-end of social media know they have amazing powers - these platforms reveal deep and intimate details about many individuals. They can provide anyone paying with specialized and laser focused access to unwitting 'customers". How do we know what profiles are being created with our data and what they do with it. The lessons from social media is this: on the farm, the piggies were far too eager to accept the new free barn and all the free straw as their new home. They are not questioning the spacious free accommodation and the abundance of free food. They take comfort in their numbers. This make them happy, and it makes the farmer happy. Happy pigs makes for quality meat.

As we engage in phenomenal projects where lots of data will be gathered, we have to front-end these data gathering operations with a human process to reflect, to engage, to be transparent about what we are gathering to build trust with our communities. By intentional design we have to face the frenemies: openness versus privacy and security.

2019-03-20 • Standards for Smart Cities

by Jacques du Plessis

New technologies often deliver proprietary formats and the drive for standards is vital to serve the receivers in the long term. The Smart City Forum has over 900 member companies to drive global standards for I0T and other technologies. They focus on the following topics: CurateFx Ecosystem Management, Customer Centricity, Data Analytics & AI, Digital Transformation & Maturity, IoE & Digital Ecosystems, Open Digital Architecture, Open APIs, Business Assurance, Trust, Security & Privacy, Smart City Forum, Virtualization, 5G, Blockchain, and Media & Telecom Convergence.

2019-03-20 • A Question about Borders

by Jacques du Plessis

The political boundaries of a city could make for unique challenges. Some smart city initiatives might focus on a specific town or village, whereas other initiatives would be best executed to cover the larger urban metropolis. Milwaukee County is a rectangle with straight arbitrary lines. Parts of the greater Milwaukee falls outside of the county, like Brookfield, Elm Grove, Butler, New Berlin, Menomonee Falls, etc. It is a significant step forward to have all 19 cities and villages inside Milwaukee County around the ICC table, but how do we build consensus and a cohesive vision when we are looking at the Milwaukee Metropolis, including urban areas outside the county?