Courtesy : en.wikipedia.org

Smart city

A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return, that data is used to improve operations across the city. This includes data collected from citizens, devices, buildings and assets that is processed and analyzed to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities, water supply networks, waste, Criminal investigations, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services. Smart cities are defined as smart both in the ways in which their governments harness technology as well as in how they monitor, analyze, plan, and govern the city.In smart cities the sharing of data in not limited to the city itself but also includes businesses, citizens and other third parties that can benefit from various uses of that data. Sharing data from different systems and sectors creates opportunities for increased understanding and economic benefits.

The smart city concept integrates information and communication technology (‘ICT’), and various physical devices connected to the Internet of things (‘IoT’) network to optimize the efficiency of city operations and services and connect to citizens. Smart city technology allows city officials to interact directly with both community and city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city and how the city is evolving. ICT is used to enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to increase contact between citizens and government.Smart city applications are developed to manage urban flows and allow for real-time responses.A smart city may therefore be more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a conventional “transactional” relationship with its citizens. Yet, the term itself remains unclear in its specifics and therefore, open to many interpretations. Many cities have already adopted the smart city technology.

Terminology

Due to the breadth of technologies that have been implemented under the smart city label, it is difficult to distill a precise definition of a smart city. Deakin and Al Waerlist four factors that contribute to the definition of a smart city:

1. The application of a wide range of electronic and digital technologies to communities and cities.
2. The use of ICT to transform life and working environments within the region.
3. The embedding of such Information and Communications Technologies in government systems.
4. The territorialisation of practices that brings ICT and people together to enhance the innovation and knowledge that they offer.

Deakin defines the smart city as one that utilizes ICT to meet the demands of the market (the citizens of the city), and states that community involvement in the process is necessary for a smart city. A smart city would thus be a city that not only possesses ICT technology in particular areas, but has also implemented this technology in a manner that positively impacts the local community.

Alternative definitions include:

• Business Dictionary, 6 Nov 2011: “A developed urban area that creates sustainable economic development and high quality of life by excelling in multiple key areas; economy, mobility, environment, people, living, and goernment. Excelling in these key areas can be done so through strong human capital, social capital, and/or ICT infrastructure.”
• Caragliu, Del Bo, & Nijkamp, 2011: “A city can be defined as smart when investments in human and social capital and traditional transport and modern ICT infrastructure fuel sustainable economic growth and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory governance.”
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK 2013: “[T]he concept is not static: there is no absolute definition of a smart city, no end point, but rather a process, or series of steps, by which cities become more ‘liveable’ and resilient and, hence, able to respond quicker to new challenges.”
• European Commission: “A smart city is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital solutions for the benefit of its inhabitants and business.”
• Frost & Sullivan 2014: “We identified eight key aspects that define a smart city: smart governance, smart energy, smart building, smart mobility, smart infrastructure, smart technology, smart healthcare and smart citizen.”
• Giffinger et al. 2007: “Regional competitiveness, transport and Information and Communication Technologies economics, natural resources, human and social capital, quality of life, and participation of citizens in the governance of cities.”
• Indian Government 2015: “Smart city offers sustainability in terms of economic activities and employment opportunities to a wide section of its residents, regardless of their level of education, skills or income levels.”
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 23 Apr 2019: “A smart city brings together technology, government and society to enable the following characteristics: a smart economy, smart mobility, a smart environment, smart people, smart living, smart governance.”
• Paiho et al. 2022: Smart city is a city that uses technological solutions to improve the management and efficiency of the urban environment. Typically, smart cities are considered being advanced in six fields of actions, namely ‘smart government’, ‘smart economy’, ‘smart environment’, ‘smart living’, ‘smart mobility’ and ‘smart people’.
• Smart Cities Council, 1 May 2013 : “A smart city [is] one that has digital technology embedded across all city functions”