Towards a Supportive City with Smart Urban Objects in the Internet of Things: The Case of Adaptive Park Bench and Adaptive Light

Abstract

IoT technology is a key driver for building smart city infrastructure. The potentials for urban management problems requiring process control and allocation mechanisms has long been acknowledged. However, up to now the potentials of equipping urban objects with sensors, information processing capability, and actuators to enable adaptation to pedestrians’ individual needs have not yet been exploited. The objective of our research is to design smart urban objects that enhance usability and safety of the urban space for pedestrians. We report on our conceptual design for an IoT platform that connects the novel smart urban object adaptive park bench with an adaptive light system to actively support pedestrians in the urban environment, in particular senior citizens with handicaps.