There is a discussion going on among the people about these smart cities and how they will drastically change the lifestyle of the people. Many people may have an idea about what a smart city is. Many organizations also made some efforts to define the concept. For example:
The independent research and technology organization TWI Global defines the smart city as A city that uses information and communication technology and improves operational efficiency. The information is made public and an increased quality of government service is provided for citizens for their welfare.
A smart city is designed to focus on characteristics like infrastructure based on technology, highly active transportation, and innovative city plans. These components of the cities make them highly functional. Blockchain technology is also a highly important component that plays a major role in smart city construction.
Benefits of Blockchain technology for Smart cities:
1. Smart education system
A smart education system is the most necessary facility for a smart city. The characteristics of the citizens of a smart city is that they want their learning to happen smartly and want to pursue their higher education smartly. They will be excited to accept new technologies.
Blockchain technology can make this dream come true. Since blockchain helps strengthen the security of educational records and increases reliability, it will be used for creating ledgers. In blockchain technology, the data will have the least exposure to tampering. Students and teachers will have more trust towards the online education modes because of this technology.
2. More smart homes
The IoT has contributed enormously towards making homes smarter. Blockchain technology will be an addon to this. The data generated by the IoT devices and the smartphones, like user activity and security details, can be recorded and shared efficiently using blockchain technology. Since blockchain is used, the traceability of smart devices also becomes more convenient. These smart homes will have the use of growing integration technology.
3. More smart factories
Blockchain technology provides a more decentralized management system to the factories, making it suitable for smart cities. With this blockchain technology, manufacturing applications operate more quickly and efficiently over networks. Factories become more flexible and reactive. It keeps them ready for any new challenges that would come up. The factory workers get more time on monitoring the process once they install the blockchain technology.
4. Blockchain helps in administration
Blockchain technology has an application in the public administration by helping inefficient delivery of the service. It will become an important tool that incorporates public goals and improves interoperability. Administrations can also use smart electronic services powered by blockchain technology for more transparency and efficiency.
5. Payments and money transfer technology
One of the well-known usages of blockchain technology is the ability to send and receive payments. It has helped many small businesses to grow rapidly. It has made the payment work easy for the companies with remote employees. In the construction of the smart city, this feature is going to prove itself as one of the revolutionizing applications. A town where everyone trusts and uses online payment methods will be the big victory of Blockchain technology.
6. Smart contracts
Blockchain technology helps to execute smart contracts. Everything will be automated with this technology when you have a deal. The transactions and agreements will happen without any middleman. This provision makes the process much faster and less expensive. Using blockchain technology to improve the cash flow of small businesses is also a very good idea. Smart contracts help to speed up blockchain mining, and they will also provide cheap notary services.
7. Smart energy
People may wonder how Blockchain technology is involved in smart energy. Park et al. argue that the implementation of blockchain can facilitate peer-to-peer energy production and consumption. A smart grid can be constructed which uses blockchain technology for energy management.
Blockchain can also be used in the process of monitoring the energy consumption by the people. It is also possible to monitor the unreasonable buying and selling of energy. It can also be used in processes like management of energy efficiency, and improving energy management.
8. Logistics and supply chain
Logistics is one of the prominent topics on which smart city planners stress about. Blockchain technology is induced perfectly, holding the capacity of raising the performance of logistics and supply chain operations. Supply Chain stakeholders can use the blockchain to manage the flow of service between different network points. Smart city consumers can track the provenance of their products or services and increase consumer satisfaction.
9. Increased security cloud storage
In blockchain-based cloud storage, the data is divided into different encrypted segments, and they are interlinked. A secure, more encrypted cloud storage can be built using this method of blockchain technology. It takes care of every aspect of processing, transport and storage of data and ensures security.
Because of this, transparency and accountability will increase. If a hacker tries to decrypt the data, he must follow a tedious procedure to get a small portion of it. That is why Blockchain-based cloud storage is best for smart cities.
10. Digital currency
Another application of blockchain technology that is the future of smart cities recently became popular. They are “the cryptocurrencies”. The boom in the industry of cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, is the product of blockchain technology.
These cryptocurrencies have the potential to become the future prominent currencies in smart cities. These digital currencies help to make the world more smart and efficient. They can create a future where people no longer need physical money, even for day to day transactions like buying groceries or paying tolls. If you want to start trading and investing in crypto right away, you can visit this site.
Conclusion:
The citizens around the world get more benefit if we create smart cities. The technology that took the world by storm in 2009, “blockchain technology”, is going to have a major role in the construction of smart cities, and there is no doubt that this technology will enhance urban living and benefit both public and private sectors. But how rapidly it will become a reality is a matter of time.
Kim Marks 
Nicola Holder