Wait… isn’t this what digital twins were built for?
When sensors fail, cities burn. Lessons from a city on fire.
After weeks of destruction, disarray, and the loss of thousands of buildings, Los Angeles finally saw rain—but it arrived too late.
Pasadena on January 27, 2025: The Eaton Fire, ignited on January 7th by an Edison power line failure, destroyed 9,418 structures, claimed 17 lives, and climbed all the way up to the 5,710-foot peak of Mount Wilson in the background. Despite rain and snow, it wasn’t fully contained until January 31st—a stark reminder of how extreme events can overwhelm our infrastructure.
This sharp contrast between chaos and calm underscores a sobering truth:
Our cities and buildings remain vulnerable, despite decades of “smart” tech investments.
So, the consequential question remains:
Why do our so-called smart buildings and cities fall short when we need them most?
We’ve poured billions into BIMs, building automation systems, LEED certifications, and “smart city” and “smart grid” initiatives. Yet, these systems fail to deliver critical, real-time insights during crises. Our infrastructure, built to be “smart,” behaves more like a patchwork of disconnected parts from the past century.
Beyond Wildfires: A Broader Crisis of Dumb Systems
This isn’t just about Los Angeles wildfires. Earthquakes, hurricanes, high winds, floods, and pandemics reveal the same systemic flaws. Infrastructure should help us prepare, respond, and recover—but too often, it becomes a liability.
Consider this:
- Energy grids buckle under stress.
- Water systems falter when pressure is most needed.
- Buildings lack real-time data for first responders.
- And none of them are communicating with each other like we expect smart systems to do
It’s not that the technology doesn’t exist—it’s that our systems don’t talk to each other.
Outdated Data, Siloed Systems, and Rising Risks
Our cities are filled with buildings that boast LEED plaques and “smart” credentials. But in a crisis, can they:
- Show where gas shut-off valves are located?
- Identify hazardous materials for first responders?
- Provide real-time occupancy or evacuation data?
Too often, the answer is no.
Outdated PDFs and fragmented data hinder emergency responses.
This isn’t just inefficient—it’s dangerous.
Schools, hospitals, and government buildings—our critical infrastructure—are often the worst offenders. Disconnected data streams and proprietary systems turn smart assets into fragile risks.
The Core Issue: Who Controls the Data?
At the heart of this dysfunction is data ownership. Vendors lock critical building data behind proprietary walls, limiting an owner’s ability to adapt, integrate, or even access it during emergencies.
Smart cities won’t be smart until owners control their data.
This is the conversation that The Power of Data Ownership (posting tomorrow) will address—how California’s Community Colleges built a system that works, not just in theory but in the real-world.
A Call to Owners, Governments, and the AECO Industry
The failure isn’t in the tech—it’s in how we design, implement, and manage it. Governments, owners, and AECO professionals must:
- Prioritize open standards that allow systems to integrate seamlessly.
- Demand data ownership—it’s not just a right, it’s a necessity for resilience.
- Shift from “Hollywood Digital Twins” (flashy but fragile) to functional, scalable platforms.
The Interoperable Building Box (IBB) and efforts by the Coalition for Smarter Buildings (C4SB) offer a roadmap for this change, creating pathways to break free from data silos.
Setting the Stage for Real Solutions
This post is the foundation for the ongoing series on Automated Buildings. We’ll explore how owners, governments, and industry leaders are moving from fragmented, vendor-locked systems to open, resilient, and data-driven solutions.
Coming Tomorrow: The Power of Data Ownership — How California’s Community Colleges future-proofed 116 campuses by taking control of their data.
Let’s keep the conversation going:
- Are your systems built for resilience or just demos?
- Who really controls your building’s data?
Let’s stop calling them “smart” until they actually are.
Originally posted on the BIMStorm Blog. This updated version anchors ongoing conversations on Automated Buildings.
