Free Research Proposal On Approach/Methods Used.

Introduction.

Smart cities require smart if not orderly development of structures and buildings over time. The case is more similar to projects that intend to develop smart developments, towns in bare areas and desert lands. This brings us to my area of focus as I research and seek a way technology can be used to ensure smart and orderly development of towns and cities and subsequent proper governance. This also goes a long way in ensuring that ancient artifacts and the documents in ancient parts of the world have a chance of being recovered through the use of the same technology. Overtime there has been irregular construction of buildings especially n poorly planned towns and areas especially in third world countries. This has translated to a myriad of problems due to the ever increasing populations including, irregular drainage systems, overpopulation, congestion, poor sewer systems, traffic jams a major setback currently in many poorly planned towns. According to Limpton M in his book, ‘Why people stay poor: urban bias in world development’ he explains the inequalities that are faced by people in developing nations. More resources are channeled to the development side instead of agriculture which is the backbone of the economy. This overly dire want for development has led to irregular constructions, unplanned town occurrence leading to most of the negative ills accompanied by overpopulation and the irregular construction of towns. This negatively affects governance as the environment. According to a journal by Scott Campbell,green cities, growing cities, there should be a balance between sustainable development ,economic development and social equity also referred to as the ,’planners triangle’

Thesis statement

Technology can be used to ensure proper, orderly development of cities, towns and also subsequent easy, good governance. This can be achieved with the current level of technology available, ancient manuscripts and documents can also be located and recovered before construction of towns begin through the use of the same technology.

Remote sensing technology or Geographic information systems technology can be used to aid in proper development of towns based on the various parameters used. This applies mostly through satellite images that are detailed or rather can be interpreted by persons familiar with the technology on the various population centers and details on the numbers therefore enabling strategic location of building models considering the future projections done. This may be done at an advanced level using models .These are representations of the various parameters of an environment that relate to the development of a town or city. Properly calibrated models can be used to collect information for instance on population expansion and the courses and path that the human explosion is following therefore being able to plan and factor in order in building constructions from homes, schools, offices and other building s that may be constructed.
Based on the calibrations in models ,that is ,the details to be collected this technology can be used to provide a lot of information for instance ,areas occupied by minerals underground, areas that may contain valuable ancient documents ,areas with fault lines ,that is, risky area for building construction and a whole range of information. This helps in determining the path of construction of permanent structures as well as projections of population and demographic concentrations therefore aiding proper planning.
Data may be collected using multispectral imagery ,spatial, temporal images taken by satellites in space such as the Landsat that show features on the ground of certain area between two periods of time through comparison therefore enabling the difference to be seen and the prediction /projection of the future situation to be made therefor enabling calculated decisions to be made. An example would be areas with fault lines and valuable materials may be avoided for the purposes of construction and the prediction of population expansion in owns may give a good idea to the decision makers on where to plan for settlements thus organization and the ease of governance.
The limitations involved here would be accuracy of the images taken in reference to the satellite position over time, the difficulty in interpretation of other aspects, the costs involved in using this technology especially for third world countries may be too much/costly, the accuracy of predictions/time of projections estimated may not be necessarily accurate.

Preliminary results and discussion

Results may be obtained through satellite images that show population expanding towards a certain direction gradually over time represented on the image by a certain pattern/color. The government or decision makers may then decide based on the information obtained to set up a well-planned town development to serve the people of that area therefore avoiding problems associated with irregular expansions of towns.

Work-plan

Stages
Problem Identification-Assess the problem and the history of the problem. This forms the basis of research and the platform for the thesis statement
-Acquire and research for literature review and the use of the remote sensing technique by other scientists, urban town planners and developers before and highlight the parts left out that are of importance in town planning.
-Methodology. The employment of multi-spectral imagery with high resolution to capture most of the information on the ground and underground. Production of the images of the relevant co-ordinates where the development is due to be set up, possibly a town. Interpretation of the various parameters in the image represented by various colors through spatial and temporal reflectance. Population indicators are identified and the satellite image (s) is compared to a similar image that was taken 5 to 10 years back and the comparison is made to show the difference between the two. This shows how fast the population is growing and I which direction thus providing a benchmark for the decision makers to plan for development thus organized development and construction. The satellite image may also provide information on underground/buried materials therefore dictating the areas for construction. This provides a platform for even ,organized development.
-Formation of a development plan on the areas to start construction by qualified experts in the field.
-Calculation of the costs involved
-Implementation of the development plan in accordance with the plan in order to get organized gradual development
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TABLE Deadlines
1. Problem identification 1week
2. Research into previously done developments using the technique. 1month
3. Discussing and evaluating the specific technological methods to be used 2weeks
4. Formation of a plan for development. 2weeks
5. Calculation of the costs involved for the respective processes. 1week
6. Implementation of the plan. 2weeks plus, indefinitely (town built gradually)

Challenges

-The meeting of deadlines as researching the GIS technology previously used and how it was used may take time
-The use of GIS technology might be expensive as getting the satellite images might be expensive and might also take some time depending on the type of image taken.
-Interpretations may also be difficult or different thus causing some disparity in the information given; these are some of the technicalities of using using such technology

Implications of research

This technology of GIS provides a platform where a lot of information can be interpreted from images and models that have been designed and new information acquired may change the literal space to be occupied by buildings as some areas set for development might have valuable items such as minerals and ancient artifacts that might be extremely valuable. A good example would be the multi-spectral imagery used in Egypt to locate ancient AD documents inscribed on papyrus reeds that had been preserved under the soil before excavation and development of these areas. This shows the importance such technology in the current development status. Easier methods and less risky methods of development may also be used such as blasting during construction in areas where there are no fault lines or earth movement all predicted through GIS technology.
This new technology has for the most part only been used for the other subjects such as in the military and environmental concerns but it can also be used for construction development and the planning of urban cities and towns. The advantage is ,models can be calibrated to the specific area of research and the information can be collected ,interpreted by the users of the model and now even preserved species’ remains, ancient valuable collections ,artifacts and a lot more information ca be interpreted from model and satellite image information

References;s

Limpton .M (1977) Why poor people stay poor: urban bias in world development ,Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1977. 467 p.
Campbell .S (1996) Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities? Urban Planning and the Contradictions of Sustainable Development Journal of the American Planning Association(Summer, 1996)