Making Safe Cities Smart

Rendering urban public areas safer places in which to live and work by reducing their vulnerability to risk is of vital importance in the modern age.

Today’s threats to the urban landscape are many and varied, ranging from terrorism and cyber criminality to public unrest and potential disruption to Critical National Infrastructure.

Central/local Government and we as citizens can play our respective parts in framing successful security and safety regimes encompassing important areas such as Data Protection, but it’s fair to say that the security sector holds the leading role when it comes to protecting both people and property within the built environment. For example, focusing on large-scale surveillance and monitoring, the enhanced use of CCTV in safe city and transportation networks encourages a requirement for additional management software.

That being so, what are the key areas that designers, end users, and integrators/installers need to consider when implementing, for example, an IP-based surveillance system with integrated Control Room information technologies?

In parallel, the Internet of Things is beginning to change security priorities. Smart technologies — among them Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) and C3i — are being employed to help “create” the safe city environment.

In what ways, though, is this technology — and, indeed, situational awareness — assisting security managers to align their own discipline with business strategy for the benefit of the Board?

How do we make safe cities smart and, in parallel, smart cities safe? Ultra-fast digital connectivity, cloud-based technologies, and secure mobile working will form part of the answer.

There’s no doubt that converging IP-based technologies will improve security. Following on from this, how to derive more return from integrated networks is a crucial area for ongoing research.

Resilient transport networks and logistics chains protect human life, economic capital, and reputation. How, though, should the citizen participate in urban security policies? How might we empower citizens to tackle criminality on those transport networks?

Is a multi-tier, truly integrated approach to security across different industry sectors really achievable? For their part, how might dedicated security professionals ensure such interconnectedness? It must always be remembered that greater openness, interconnection, and dependency can lead to enhanced vulnerabilities.

The importance of connecting Critical National Infrastructures and business sectors, while at the same time developing interoperable standards to facilitate viable systems integration, can never be understated.

In cyberspace, meanwhile, are complex legacy IT systems at the root of most security episodes? Are financial institutions — the very backbone of urban and national economies, of course — adopting the active, holistic approaches demanded to combat the threat?

At the enterprise level, risk management is all about aligning strategy, processes, technology, people, and intelligence. In short, identifying and proactively addressing risks and opportunities to protect — and also create value for — the key stakeholders in the process.

In terms of managed services and the cloud, there are data storage and access issues to be resolved. Who’s actively monitoring — and ultimately responsible for — key-critical data?