12 Predictions About the Trends That Will Shape Smart Cities in 2022

 

Cities needed to adapt to tremendous challenges in 2021. Leaders faced increasingly dangerous driving behavior, extreme weather events, tense political climates and rising crime rates in addition to the ongoing, and constantly changing, COVID pandemic.

Despite the past year’s many obstacles, some cities made progress in becoming more sustainable and equitable places to live by increasing investments in cycling and electric vehicle infrastructure, piloting free public transportation, and continuing to help close the digital divide. Moving into the new year, local leaders say they are likely to continue to focus on those initiatives, as well as on cybersecurity, infrastructure and climate resiliency.

Smart Cities Dive asked readers to share how they think cities will evolve in 2022. Here’s a selection of responses we received:

EV charging infrastructure will grow and build resilience

“As more consumers adopt electric vehicles, we will see a move away from charging at home, as most people do not live somewhere they can charge. There will be more emphasis on ubiquitous public charging locations where people are already going, like the office, retail spaces, the park, etc.

The impacts of electricity grid failures stemming from natural disasters and extreme weather will also become recognized as a significant vulnerability. So, more emphasis will be placed upon off-grid, locally generated and stored electricity, particularly for EV charging. Additionally, grid capacity will be recognized as a choke point that will largely be solved by smaller microgrids and other off-grid solutions.”

— Desmond Wheatley, CEO of Beam Global