When your face pays
In Yinchuan, your face is your credit card.
On the local buses, facial recognition software has replaced the fare box. Much like a fingerprint can unlock a smartphone, passengers' faces are linked to their bank accounts, meaning boarding isn't slowed by people fishing for exact change.
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| A solar powered trash bin |
Public trash bins that run on solar power and double as compactors, allowing them to increase their capacity five-fold, are being trialed within the city's Smart Community Project -- an occupied "living lab" which acts as a mini-city within the city. The bins send out a signal when they're full, so garbage collectors know when to empty them.
Grocery shopping is also, potentially, a thing of the past. Residents can order food via an app on their phone and, rather than wait at home for perishables to turn up, they can pick up their shopping at centrally located refrigerated smart lockers.
Hologram hellos
At the City Hall, holograms -- not people -- usher in residents. A smattering of QR codes dot the walls, allowing people to get quick answers to frequently asked questions and avoid waiting in line. At a recent Yinchuan job fair, for example, job seekers scanned the codes to get quick information about job openings.
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| Hologram welcoming visitors |
Every interaction a citizen might have with the government -- from getting a business license to renewing a passport -- takes place here. Many processes that once required face-to-face meetings have been efficiently moved online.
That ethos applies to healthcare, too.
Haodaifu Online is an internet portal that links doctors with patients, providing the latter with remote therapy and prescriptions. The service reduces overcrowding in hospitals and doctors' surgeries.
Smart China
Yinchuan's is one of nearly 200 smart city pilot projects in China.
As the central government tries to move 250 million of its citizens from rural areas into towns and cities by 2050, it is determined to make its urban areas efficient and equipped with the technology to handle such a vast population influx.
To cement its status as a "smart city" leader, Yinchuan has for two years hosted the Smart City In Focus conference, which this year attracted 1,000 delegates from 66 different countries.
A smart city is defined as an urban settlement which marries big data, technology and urban planning, and hints at a future worthy of the Jetsons.
"What makes China special is that they're looking to create a repeatable pattern as to how to build and create and roll out a smart city," says Carl Piva, vice president of strategic programs at TM Forum, which organized this conference.
"In the West, we world don't have that sense of 'rolling out' like they tend to do."
Why Yinchuan?
At first glance, Yinchuan may not seem the most obvious choice to be a "smart city" leader.
Its population of 1.5 million pales compared to that of Beijing (13 million) and Shanghai (24 million).
Wouldn't it make more sense to start by making smart already developed cities, where citizens are more likely to benefit and participate?
Piva says not.
"The problem is these cities are already too big," he says.
A blank canvas like Yinchuan can more flexibly adopt new technologies, and then "attract people that would otherwise have gone to Beijing or Shanghai."
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