Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting, has created a sneak preview of what urban life could be like in 2030, in a future-gazing virtual reality experience. At Smart Cities Expo World Congress in Barcelona today, Philips Lighting Research unveiled a picture of how connected lighting technology will play a key part in underpinning the smart cities we can expect to inhabit in just over a decade.

Urban populations are growing rapidly and 60% of the world population are predicted to be living in cities by 20301. Philips Lighting is helping to pave the way for massive urban growth by developing a people-centric blueprint for lighting and Internet of Things (IoT) services in the smart city of the future. In the first installment of the ’2030: Smart city life’ virtual reality experience, the company shows how connected LED lighting has the potential to enhance quality of life, transform everyday experiences and services, and ensure sustainability in our ever expanding global cities. By 2030 it is expected that there will be close to 70 billion light points.²

Philips Lighting showcases smart city lighting solutions for 2030. (All photos courtesy of Philips Lighting)

Public lighting is installed everywhere: where people live, work, play and travel. Its primary function is to provide energy efficient, quality light to enhance public safety and enhance the urban landscape. However, in the future a city’s lighting infrastructure will also offer enormous potential to be part of a city-wide network capable of acquiring data and delivering information and services to and from millions of devices, from garbage bins to autonomous vehicles. In this way it could help enable smart city services to improve the lives of its citizens and city managers alike.

“The needs and aspirations of city dwellers have changed. They access information and navigate spaces in ways unimaginable 30-years ago and the rapid pace of change will see increasing demands on city governments,” said Kees van der Klauw, Senior Vice President, Philips Lighting Research. “Technology has a huge role to play in making cities more livable and delivering new services to its inhabitants. Through our connected lighting systems and services, Philips Lighting is already putting in place today many of the building blocks enabling the smart cities of tomorrow. And we see that citizens don’t want a technology imposed upon them, they want to have a say and be involved in defining the applications they need.”