The Smart City
A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when investments in human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory governance.* The concept of ‘smart’ seems to rotate around 6 main areas: mobility, economy, environment, living, people and governance.
Forty years of extensive city research show that patterns of city development are similar across nations with different levels of deployment, technology and wealth – because the same basic social and economic processes are at work.
* Caragliu, A; Del Bo, C. & Nijkamp, P (2011). "Smart cities in Europe", Journal of Urban Technology, 18 (2): 65-82.