Congestion in cities is a global problem. There are roughly 4 million vehicles in Bangalore, and the average worker in London spends around 227 hours a year commuting. Using crowdsourced data, Urban Engines is helping cities to become smarter, less congested and more efficient.

“Stuck on a baking Tube, late, hate the Central Line. Think driver has gone to sleep!” People love sharing their transport miseries on social media, but while it may make them feel better for a minute, they will probably run into the same problem on the next day's commute.

In an attempt to understand how the city works, Chicago is set to introduce lamp posts that track activity around them. It measures environmental characteristics and the number of people passing by – but what implications does it have for privacy? Is this the new big brother?

Tired of spending your commute to work stuck in traffic jams? Urban Engines hopes to solve this problem by incentivising people to use less congested routes. It uses algorithms to help cities determine key congestion areas, and rewards commuters for avoiding them.