We are building smart cities. A smart city is one that integrates society with its Government and that, through intelligent systems, detects needs and generates solutions, ideally in real time. Smart cities use technology to be more sustainable and to improve people's quality of life and well-being.
Many factors determine whether a city can be called smart. For example, having energy-saving systems that enable smart consumption, recycling, and reductions in waste or gas emissions; committing to telemedicine or remote assistance; or, in transport, having efficient traffic management, optimized public transport routes and sustainable infrastructure.
We have never had so many possibilities for how to grow as we do now: we have so many that we do not know which way we are going. For human beings, living today is a gift and it is going to be spectacular. In 30 years, we will look back and everything will seem very strange to us. I do not know what smart cities will be like in the future, but we do know they will be intelligent and cognitive.
We know that in the future we will live in cities because it is the only way to preserve the rest of Nature; if we spread out across the whole territory, we will kill whatever is within our reach. By 2050, 85% of the world's population will live in cities, above all because human beings are urban beings and we need to live together in order to advance. And also because we have to free the rest of nature from human pressure. Everyone must have their own space.
Transport is going to change so much that it is quite possible that private cars will not be allowed to circulate in city centers and that public transport will be the only thing that exists. Once we have control of the city's traffic and its traffic lights, everything will be much simpler and more automated. There will be no traffic jams or, if there are, they can be resolved more efficiently than now. On the other hand, we do not know whether or not there will be flying vehicles, but it is certain that we will have autonomous vehicles, and, if they drive themselves, it is quite feasible that they could fly.