The Government recently launched the Smart Nation programme which aims to transform Singapore into the world's first smart nation.

But what does a smart nation look like? What does the future hold for us? Flying cars may not be the way to go.

Here's a wishlist of 6 things Singapore can aspire to in the next few decades:

1. Smart driver-less transportation network

Imagine a day where there will be no need for drivers in any vehicle, and no one actually owns a vehicle. This was what Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy proposed - a 'less-car' Singapore.

As an example, think of a housing estate that shares a fleet of maybe 20 cars. These 20 cars are akin to driver-less taxis that serve the needs of the estate. With proper planning, the estate can share these 20 cars optimally. When a car drops off its passenger, it can self-drive itself to pick up the next passenger without having to waste time being parked and idling.

With multiple families sharing one or two cars, the car population in Singapore will be reduced; the cost of maintaining a car would also be reduced significantly since more people share the same car.  In other words, we will have an efficient driver-less carpooling system.

Traffic jams may be the thing of the past if all the route planning is done by a centralised system to optimise road usage. Accidents would be lowered because there will be less reckless driving as well.

Possible downsides: Being able to drive is actually quite fun. And if cars are no longer status symbols, something else has to give.

2. Sleep-cycle optimised working hours or 24-hour economies

If the active working population is spread out over 24 hours, instead of 12 - 16 hours as it is now, problems like congestion would be reduced.

There are people who are more effective working at night, it could bode well for a company's productivity if workers are allowed to work during their most optimal hours.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had moved in the right direction by spreading out the peak-hour crowd through free pre-peak travel. We already have 24 hours fast-food restaurants and convenience stores.

Maybe we can seriously explore implementing this 24-hour economy idea.

Possible downsides: You might never cross paths with your spouse again.

3. Death of offices

Gone are the days of passing internal memos by hand or using a Telex machine to send memos across vast distances. The Internet and Email has revolutionised office work making communications instantaneous.

With almost every household connected to broadband internet, an 'experience' of being in an office environment can be live-streamed. That is to say, you can still call out to a colleague and have a face-to-face chat with them instantaneously, albeit through computer screens.

Also, people spend most of their working hours in office in solitude churning out reports on their laptops. Why can't they do this at home instead?

One immediate benefit for workers is that they can save on time travelling to and fro the office - time they can use to be more productive for the company or have more work-life balance.

If a company needs workers to have physical contact with each other, they could set one day a week aside for workers to come into the office. With hot-desking as a concept that is slowly taking off, an office space maybe be utilised by several different companies which use the space on different days of the week.

Rush hour would be a thing of the past.

Possible downsides: No more office gossip.

4. Online shopping to replace shopping centres, but not small specialty shops

The writing is already on the wall for this. Most regional and international consumer brands are sold at a premium here. Singaporeans are essentially paying extra for distributor costs and profit.

With the rise of blogshops, Amazon and Taobao as real viable shopping alternatives, it may be a matter of one or two generations before Singaporeans treat buying goods online as a norm.

The only shops that can survive the onslaught of online shopping are specialty shops that offer goods and services that are not mass produced.

Drone shoppers/couriers

Another interesting concept that could take flight in the future is the advent of drone deliveries. Instead of relying on the DHL/Fedex deliveryman to bring parcels to your door step, drones can fly them to you instead.

Just like an estate sharing a fleet of 20 driver-less cars, an estate can also have a fleet of drones that does delivery services.

Imagine the day you don't have to do the weekly supermarket run and squeeze with the trolley crowds, instead you order your groceries and it gets picked up by a drone for you.

Hungry at night? A drone can pick up fast food for you at a drive-thru.

And who says delivery can only be done at fixed addresses? Having a picnic at East Coast but forgot to buy ice or drinks? The drone will fly it right to you using your phone's GPS coordinates.

Possible downsides: The adrenaline rush of dashing through the stores, elbowing other shoppers and snatching things.

5. Bubble-domed green estates

This particular vision is bordering on science fiction. One of the biggest gripes of living in Singapore is the heat. But what if estates can be in a climate-controlled dome much like the domes in Gardens By The Bay?

I'm sure not many Singaporeans will complain if we could lower temperatures by at least 10 degrees in the day. With that, it would be more pleasurable to do many more outdoor activities like picnics, walking in the park in the day, or generally walking to get to places.

Humidity can be controlled as well and people can look forward to clearer complexions too and those with sinus and respiratory ailments can heave a sigh of relief.

Much of the current surface area of buildings are wasted. Provisions can be made for more vertical landscaping to happen in Singapore. The vertical greenery will also not absorb as much heat as concrete surfaces and this helps lower the overall temperature of the estate.

Possible downsides: Variability is good for the human body actually.

6. Smart networked homes

Samsung and LG are already producing next-generation refrigerators that can alert you when you are low on milk. In the future,  your fridge can probably order your groceries for you and have them delivered by drones.

How about a smart weighing scale and toilet bowl that can detect subtle changes to your body and advice you to go for a check up?

On the way home? Your house can calculate how long it takes for you to reach home and switch on the air-conditioner and water heater, and fill the bathtub beforehand to make sure you come back to a comfortable home.

Burglar breaking into your house while you're on holiday? The house will alert the police and probably lock the burglar in your home.

Possible downsides: Annoying alerts all the time.

Top image from here.

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