'We apply AI to make urban governance more people-centered'
This excerpt is adapted and translated from a talk given by Alicante (Spain) Mayor Luis Barcala, during a panel discussion at the UNIDO's 10th "Bridge for Cities" forum in Xi'an, China. Image is by via Wikipedia, CC 1.0
In Alicante, our city [of 358,000] by the Mediterranean, we use AI in urban governance. In specific projects, the first one are these vending machines we’ve developed, where citizens go into municipal facilities, and get on the machine and the AI figures out your taxes and bill, and people use it to pay their taxes and bills, right there, very easy.
The second AI project is related to aging services. Spain is next to Japan, the country with the longest average life span—and we aim to surpass Japan in this regard soon. We use AI, with video and VR technologies to monitor the conditions of the elderly, when people can’t be with them.
Third AI case is in the water system—we used AI to integrate the system, make it smarter and to recycle 90 percent of the water in the city.
In these cases, we apply AI to make urban governance more people-centered. And we publish and share our best practices across the country. The technologies are just means to an end.
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