The intelligent city and emergency management in the 21st century

Computing and telecommunications technologies, once separate and well-defined, will merge and their distinctiveness will blur. Mobile wireless and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) will serve as the telecommunications backbone over which municipal management information systems will synchronise and orchestrate the various functions of government agencies and departments. Traditional organization and separation of municipal departments and agencies will undergo significant change as the intelligent city makes interdependent relationships more concrete and dynamic. Resource allocation will become more efficient as implementation of comprehensive planning becomes more tangible. Rather than existing largely as a separate and distinct function which is called upon during times of crisis as it is today, emergency management will become integrated into every facet of municipal planning and operations. The intelligent city will incorporate each of the elements of emergency management (preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation) into its overall planning and operational matrix. (author abstract)