Exploring the Connection Between Smart Cities and

A smart city is an urban model that leverages technology, human capital, and governance to improve sustainability, efficiency, and social inclusion, which are considered goals for cities of the future. Smart cities use digital technology to collect data and operate services. Data is collected from citizens, devices, buildings, or cameras. Smart city applications are diverse and include, but are not limited to, traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities, urban forestry, water supply networks, waste disposal, criminal investigations, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services. The foundation of a smart city is built on the integration of people, technology, and processes, which connect and interact across sectors such as healthcare, transportation, education, infrastructure, etc. Smart cities are characterized by the ways in which their local governments monitor, analyze, plan, and govern the city. In a smart city, data sharing extends to businesses, citizens, and other third parties who can derive benefit from using that data. The three largest sources of spending associated with smart cities as of 2022 were visual surveillance, public transit, and outdoor lighting. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

Smart cities integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and devices connected to the Internet of things (IOT) network to optimize city services and connect to citizens. ICT can enhance the quality, performance, and interactivity of urban services, reduce costs and resource consumption, and to increase contact between citizens and government. Smart city applications manage urban flows and allow for real-time responses. A smart city may be more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a conventional "transactional" relationship with its citizens. Yet, the term is open to many interpretations. Many cities have already adopted some sort of smart city technology. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Background

Historically, cities functioned as centers of innovation, and the advent of the digital era presented opportunities and challenges to apply technology to create urban environments that are more efficient, sustainable, and livable.[how?] (University of Minnesota Extension)

The shift to smart cities necessitates a comprehensive restructuring of city management and operations, leading citizen participation, and methods of public service delivery. (Penn State Extension)

Cities seek to upgrade their infrastructure and service delivery to promote social inclusion, technological adoption, and economic development. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

The transformation into a smart city involves modifications in planning, management, and operational processes. This data can subsequently be analyzed to identify areas for improvement and optimize urban services. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Definition

No commonly accepted definition of "smart city" has emerged.: 71 Evaluating smart city initiatives is difficult without agreement on parameters. It also hampers the ability to compare projects and identify best practices. (University of Minnesota Extension)

Deakin and Al Waer list four factors that contribute to the definition of a smart city: (Penn State Extension)

Deakin defines the smart city as one that uses ICT to meet the demands of the market (the citizens of the city), based on community involvement. Studies of smart city projects can be used as an alternative to difficult-to-define broad definitions to clarify what smart cities are. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

Notable disparities among smart city definitions include the relative focus on economic advantages versus environmental or social benefits and specific technology choices. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Motivations

An important motivation for smart cities is projected population growth. The UN forecasts the global population to reach 9.6 to 13.2 billion by 2100, with cities absorbing 80% of this growth. (University of Minnesota Extension)

An important goal of smart city initiatives is to use ICTs to address the tragedy of the commons problem.[how?] This phenomenon occurs when individuals acting in their own self-interest deplete a communal resource. For example, while each individual driver in a city saves time and flexibility by driving, the resultant excessive driving of the community causes traffic congestion and environmental issues. This situation is worsened when public transportation services get little attention due to the use of personal vehicles. (Penn State Extension)

History

Philosophical predecessors of smart cities can be found in utopian works such as New Atlantis (1626). Another was Ebenezer Howard's 1898 concept of Garden Cities. These were dense, size-limited cities founded in rural areas by private groups, combining the benefits of the city and the country. Other conceptions include those of Edward Bellamy, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. Critics of smart cities draw parallels between the weaknesses of these utopian visions and the weaknesses of smart cities today. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

The concept of "smart cities" emerged from global cities' adoption of information and communications technologies for urban use, which can be used to improve efficiency, sustainability, and livability in urban environments. Some of the earliest interventions in urban planning include the use of computational statistical analysis by the Community Analysis Bureau in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and the establishment by Singapore of the National Computer Board in 1981. (EPA Environmental Resources)

The smart city concept experienced a major surge around 2005. Tech companies sought to create information systems to enhance operational efficiency for cities. (University of Minnesota Extension)

IBM launched its Smarter Planet marketing initiative in 2008, which included the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge. In 2010, Cisco Systems, with $25 million from the Clinton Foundation, established its Connected Urban Development program in partnership with San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Seoul. In 2011, the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona attracted 6000 people from 50 countries. The European Commission in 2012 established the Smart Cities Marketplace, a centralized hub for urban initiatives in the European Union. The 2015 Chancellor's Budget for the United Kingdom proposed to invest £140 million in smart cities and IoT. Smart city competitions were launched in the 2010s by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the United States Department of Transportation. In 2016, AT&T launched an alliance with Cisco, Deloitte, Ericsson, General Electric, IBM, Intel, and Qualcomm, with municipal partners Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; and Dallas, Texas. (Penn State Extension)

Methods

It has been suggested that a smart city (or other community) uses information technologies to: (USDA National Agriculture Library)

They evolve towards a strong integration of all dimensions of human intelligence, collective intelligence, and also artificial intelligence within the city.: 112–113  According to Mitchell, the intelligence of cities "resides in the increasingly effective combination of digital telecommunication networks (the nerves), ubiquitously embedded intelligence (the brain), sensors and tags (the sensory organs), and software (the knowledge and cognitive competence)". (EPA Environmental Resources)

Examples of instrumentation intelligence are those implemented in Amsterdam. This is realized through: (Penn State Extension)

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most important thing to know about Smart city?

The most important factor is starting with an honest assessment of your current situation and available resources. Effective implementation depends on matching the approach to your specific context — climate, scale, community, and goals all matter. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

Conclusion

Exploring the Connection Between Smart Cities and represents an important dimension of the larger shift toward sustainable, ecologically grounded ways of living. Whether you are just beginning or deepening existing practice, the resources and knowledge are increasingly accessible. The steps taken today — however modest — contribute to a compounding body of change that matters both locally and globally. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Additional reference: Wikipedia — Smart city

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