5G and Smart Cities: What’s Changing in Urban Connectivity?

Modern cities are rapidly evolving thanks to cutting-edge technologies, and one of the main drivers of this transformation is the deployment of 5G networks. This is not just faster internet – it is a true breakthrough: downloading movies in seconds, instant response of autonomous vehicles, and reliable operation of smart city management systems.

5G creates the foundation for new services: from optimizing public transport and energy-efficient buildings to the medicine of the future. Its emergence marks the beginning of an entire era of interaction between citizens and their environment.

The scale factor is equally important: by 2030, nearly 50 billion IoT devices are expected to be connected. Only 5G can provide the necessary speed, stability, and bandwidth to support this explosive growth.

In this article, we will explore how 5G technology is reshaping urban life, creating new opportunities for residents, businesses, and municipal services.

A New Level of Speed and Reliability

The most visible transformation brought by 5G is the dramatic leap in connection speed and stability. While 4G provides 20-50 Mbps, 5G offers up to 10 Gbps, enabling real-time data exchange at a scale previously unimaginable. This allows urban services to instantly collect and process information, while users can seamlessly interact with digital platforms.

Such connectivity opens new horizons for education, remote work, and government services. In times of crisis – pandemics or natural disasters – a stable high-speed network ensures the continuity of learning and communication. Teachers can conduct interactive HD-quality lessons, expanding access to education.

• Ultra-Low Latency for Critical Systems: Another key advantage of 5G is ultra-low latency, measured in just a few milliseconds. This is critical for autonomous transport, where even microseconds can affect safety. With such responsiveness, self-driving cars can react to traffic lights, obstacles, or pedestrians in real time.

• Smarter Response Systems: 5G is also revolutionizing emergency alert systems. During earthquakes, fires, or security threats, residents receive instant instructions, while services get a detailed picture of the situation. This speeds up deployment and ensures more coordinated action.

• New Opportunities for Entertainment: Thanks to 5G’s speed and stability, VR and AR have become widely accessible: virtual tours, augmented reality sports events, or online concerts without buffering.

• Seamless Performance in Crowded Areas: High capacity and connection density allow thousands of devices to work simultaneously without loss of quality. This solves the long-standing issue of network overload in subways, business districts, or stadiums.

• Business Productivity: Companies gain a new level of automation and the ability to work in the cloud without delays. Remote monitoring and infrastructure maintenance reduce downtime and improve competitiveness. In the financial sector, 5G supports high-frequency trading, mobile banking, and fraud prevention.

• Culture and Sports: The media industry is changing with online exhibitions, interactive events, and real-time streaming for millions of users. In sports, multi-camera broadcasts, AR statistics, and personalized fan experiences are becoming possible.

• The Foundation of the Smart City: By combining speed, stability, and low latency, 5G becomes the backbone of next-generation digital services. From transport and healthcare to culture and energy management, this technology opens the door to innovation and significantly improves the quality of urban life.

Smart City Infrastructure

5G is becoming the technological backbone of smart city development. Its ultra-high speed and low latency enable real-time operation of critical systems – from autonomous transport to intelligent lighting and energy-efficient resource management. Already today, such solutions help reduce electricity consumption by up to 30% without compromising safety or comfort.

However, smart city infrastructure goes far beyond lighting and transport. In the water supply sector, sensors connected via 5G can detect leaks, optimize distribution, and monitor resource consumption. This helps cities save money and make management more transparent.

• Intelligent Buildings and Energy Management: 5G is transforming buildings: climate control, lighting, elevators, and security systems operate on real-time data. This reduces energy costs and minimizes environmental impact.

• Urban Safety and Emergency Response: City services gain a new level of efficiency. High-resolution cameras transmit video without delays, while AI algorithms analyze behavior and quickly detect threats. Emergency and rescue systems operate in sync and respond much faster than before.

• Mobility as a Service: 5G enables the integration of different modes of transport into a single digital platform (Mobility-as-a-Service, MaaS): metro, buses, taxis, and e-scooters. Passengers can plan routes, make payments, and receive notifications through one application. Sensors and cameras manage traffic lights and regulate flows in real time, reducing congestion and emissions.

• Smart Districts and Drones: 5G supports the development of smart neighborhoods, where residents can share energy, book shared spaces, or manage local security systems. The technology also paves the way for autonomous drones and robots that deliver medicines, groceries, or equipment – especially in hard-to-reach areas.

Expanding the Capabilities of the Internet of Things (IoT)

The advent of 5G marks a transformative leap for the Internet of Things (IoT), unlocking a new era of hyperconnectivity. With its ultra-high speed, extremely low latency, and capacity to support millions of simultaneous device connections per square kilometer, 5G enables seamless integration of smart devices into the urban landscape at an unprecedented scale.

• Smart Infrastructure and Urban Efficiency: Across cities, smart sensors embedded in infrastructure – from bridges and roadways to trash bins and lamp posts – constantly gather and transmit data. For instance, IoT-enabled waste bins can notify municipal services when they are full, allowing dynamic route optimization for garbage collection. This reduces fuel usage, cuts CO₂ emissions, and improves urban cleanliness – all while lowering operational costs.

• Real-Time Environmental Monitoring: Environmental protection also benefits immensely from 5G-powered IoT. Air quality sensors, water monitoring stations, and soil analysis tools connected via 5G enable real-time pollution tracking. This allows cities to respond rapidly to ecological threats, enforce regulations more effectively, and base decisions on up-to-date, granular data.

• Smarter Homes and Connected Living: In the residential sector, 5G strengthens the capabilities of smart homes by ensuring reliable and instantaneous communication between devices. Residents can remotely manage lighting, heating, cooling, appliances, and security systems via smartphone or voice command – enhancing comfort, energy efficiency, and safety. From unlocking doors to adjusting thermostats, everything becomes more responsive and interconnected.

• Healthcare Innovation Through Wearables: In healthcare, wearable IoT devices – such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, or remote monitoring patches – provide real-time insights into a patient’s health. These tools allow doctors to monitor patients remotely, alert them to irregularities, and intervene early, preventing complications. 5G connectivity ensures that even patients in rural or underserved areas can benefit from timely, high-quality medical care.

• Industrial Automation and Smart Manufacturing: Industry is also being revolutionized by the fusion of 5G and IoT. In smart factories, machines and sensors communicate autonomously to monitor processes, detect inefficiencies, and optimize production in real time. 5G enables ultra-reliable communication between factory components, paving the way for innovations such as autonomous drones used for equipment inspection, logistics, and security patrols – without the need for manual oversight.

• From Fragmented Devices to a Unified Ecosystem: Ultimately, 5G elevates the Internet of Things from a collection of isolated smart devices to a cohesive, city-wide digital ecosystem. Everything from streetlights and vehicles to homes and hospitals becomes interconnected, laying the groundwork for truly intelligent urban environments. With 5G, cities evolve into adaptive, responsive, and self-optimizing systems – designed to improve quality of life, enhance sustainability, and streamline urban operations.

5G Network Architecture in Urban Environments

Main Types of 5G Networks

Source: Image generated via ChatGPT 4o by Volodymyr Kazakov

A 5G network consists of a Radio Access Network (RAN or 5G NR) and a 5G Core. Small 5G transmitters are deployed throughout the city to provide coverage and are connected to a centralized core network. The architecture of 5G is fundamentally different from previous generations, offering the flexibility and performance needed for modern smart cities.

Key components of 5G infrastructure include:

• Radio Access Network (RAN): This is the radio access layer made up of towers and small cells distributed across the city. 5G uses smaller, lower-power transmitters, which can be discreetly installed on buildings or lampposts. This allows for the creation of a denser grid of coverage cells, increasing network capacity and the density of connected devices in urban areas.

• MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing): This technology places computing resources and cloud servers closer to the end user – directly at base stations or access network nodes. By pushing computation to the network edge, latency is significantly reduced and the network backbone is offloaded. This is especially critical for real-time applications such as autonomous vehicles or augmented reality, as well as mission-critical services.

• Network Slicing: Network slicing enables virtualization of the network, allowing operators to create multiple isolated virtual sub-networks on a shared physical infrastructure. Each “slice” can be customized for a specific service or client, with guaranteed parameters such as bandwidth, latency, reliability, and security. In a city context, this means that critical services (e.g., police or emergency medical teams) can operate on dedicated, high-priority slices, isolated from public traffic. This isolation boosts reliability and security, with 5G offering built-in encryption and segmentation mechanisms via slicing – making it more secure than 4G.

Sources: 5G use cases that are transforming the world, 5G Public Safety Technology: Benefits and Uses for First Responders

Examples of Urban Service Improvements Enabled by 5G

Real-world implementations of 5G are already delivering tangible improvements across various areas of urban infrastructure. Below are several case studies from cities around the world:

• Transportation: In several South Korean cities (such as Seoul and Busan), 5G is being used for intelligent traffic management. Traffic lights equipped with 5G sensors adjust signals in real time based on traffic flow, reducing congestion and improving vehicle movement. Public transport is also monitored through 5G systems: data from buses and trains is transmitted instantly, allowing dispatchers to dynamically adjust routes and schedules for increased efficiency.

• Healthcare: 5G technology has opened a new era of telemedicine. A notable example is the world’s first remote surgeries performed via 5G. In China, surgeons conducted brain surgery on a patient located 3,000 km away, made possible by stable, high-speed, ultra-low-latency 5G connectivity. These cases demonstrate that expert surgeons can now operate on patients in remote areas without being physically present – and 5G’s speed and reliability make it both feasible and safe.

• Public Safety: 5G greatly enhances the capabilities of emergency services and urban safety. For example, with 5G, 911 operators gain new tools: callers in emergency situations can live-stream video from the scene, and dispatchers can instantly access nearby surveillance cameras to accurately assess location and surroundings. This accelerates incident response. Imagine a scenario: during a major earthquake, a 5G network allows different response units – police, rescue teams, and medics – to operate on a dedicated network, sharing drone footage, sensor data, and coordinating efforts in real time. 

These capabilities were once out of reach, but are now becoming a reality, making cities safer and more resilient.

Sources: 5G Success Stories: Real-life Examples from Around the World, 5G Public Safety Technology: Benefits and Uses for First Responders

Conclusion

5G is becoming the foundation of modern urban infrastructure, making life more comfortable, safe, and efficient. Its deployment reduces energy use, optimizes transport, lowers environmental impact, and boosts economic performance.

Beyond this, 5G creates new business opportunities, supports startups, and drives job creation, with active applications already in healthcare, education, transport, and public safety.

Success depends on collaboration between government, business, and citizens: authorities must support infrastructure investment, while residents should embrace new technologies that improve daily life.

Thus, 5G is not just another stage of progress – it is a new quality of urban living, and now is the time to act to unlock its full potential.