Know about the project “MK:Smart”, a smartphone appl to help residents of Milton Keynes manage and use water more efficiently
Know about the project “MK:Smart”, a smartphone appl to help residents of Milton Keynes manage and use water more efficiently
Learn about a proposed smartphone application to help residents of Milton Keynes, England, use water more efficiently.
© Open University (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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© Open University (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn about a proposed smartphone application to help residents of Milton Keynes, England, use water more efficiently.
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News •
Strictly shoe maker in Milton Keynes invests in new technology
• Dec. 19, 2025, 11:55 PM ET (BBC)
Transcript
ENRICO MOTTA: Milton Keynes is the UK'S fastest growing city. Like all growing cities, it's going to need more water efficiency, clever energy usage, and better transport solutions if this growth is going to be sustainable.
GEOFF SNELSON: Milton Keynes is growing really quickly. We've got plans for 28,000 new homes and that's going to place enormous pressure on our existing infrastructure. We can't just continue to do things in the way that we have done today. We've got to find new and innovative ways of dealing with them.
MOTTA: It's a big issue. And not just for Milton Keynes, but for pretty much everybody in the UK and most people on the planet.
Ninety percent of us in the UK live in cities. And for the first time in history, more of the global population are living in growing urban areas.
I work at Open University on a project we are leading called MK:Smart, which is looking how to make Milton Keynes, and in turn, other cities, a lot smarter.
MK:Smart is a 16 million pound investment in Milton Keynes. We are working with key players, like Milton Keynes council, Cambridge University, University of Bedfordshire, Rouche Telekom and others to harness data and develop new solutions as Milton Keynes grows.
It's about using data from data centers like these to help people manage their water and energy use more efficiently and to move around Milton Keynes more easily. Let's look at one very simple example. A data-driven solution that helps people to manage water usage in their garden.
I grew up in Sicily. Believe it or not, my hometown in Sicily actually gets more rainfall per annum than Milton Keynes. So it's clearly necessary to improve Milton Keynes water management.
When there are water shortages, hose [INAUDIBLE] are introduced. But how can we advice people to use water more efficiently to prevent such shortages?
Well, one way to do this would be to provide an app on a smartphone or a tablet which provides you with a customized calendar which tells you whether your garden needs watering now or in the next few days.
The app is integrating data from weather forecasts, satellite observations, ground sensors and air temperatures to provide you with very specific advice about when to water the garden.
So this is just one example of what our work at MK:Smart can make possible. Using real-time information to help everyone in the city make better use of water, energy, and transport.
Milton Keynes is a cool place to live, with a buzz you would expect from the fastest growing city in the UK. But this growth has to be sustainable. And this is what MK:Smart is all about.
GEOFF SNELSON: Milton Keynes is growing really quickly. We've got plans for 28,000 new homes and that's going to place enormous pressure on our existing infrastructure. We can't just continue to do things in the way that we have done today. We've got to find new and innovative ways of dealing with them.
MOTTA: It's a big issue. And not just for Milton Keynes, but for pretty much everybody in the UK and most people on the planet.
Ninety percent of us in the UK live in cities. And for the first time in history, more of the global population are living in growing urban areas.
I work at Open University on a project we are leading called MK:Smart, which is looking how to make Milton Keynes, and in turn, other cities, a lot smarter.
MK:Smart is a 16 million pound investment in Milton Keynes. We are working with key players, like Milton Keynes council, Cambridge University, University of Bedfordshire, Rouche Telekom and others to harness data and develop new solutions as Milton Keynes grows.
It's about using data from data centers like these to help people manage their water and energy use more efficiently and to move around Milton Keynes more easily. Let's look at one very simple example. A data-driven solution that helps people to manage water usage in their garden.
I grew up in Sicily. Believe it or not, my hometown in Sicily actually gets more rainfall per annum than Milton Keynes. So it's clearly necessary to improve Milton Keynes water management.
When there are water shortages, hose [INAUDIBLE] are introduced. But how can we advice people to use water more efficiently to prevent such shortages?
Well, one way to do this would be to provide an app on a smartphone or a tablet which provides you with a customized calendar which tells you whether your garden needs watering now or in the next few days.
The app is integrating data from weather forecasts, satellite observations, ground sensors and air temperatures to provide you with very specific advice about when to water the garden.
So this is just one example of what our work at MK:Smart can make possible. Using real-time information to help everyone in the city make better use of water, energy, and transport.
Milton Keynes is a cool place to live, with a buzz you would expect from the fastest growing city in the UK. But this growth has to be sustainable. And this is what MK:Smart is all about.
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