What differentiates a smart city? A comparison with a basic city

Abstract

Distinctive nature of the problems a city holds, baptise a “smart city”, which is a term, at the same time, is blamed for being befogged. Although defining the term “a smart city” is worth taking a risk, the maturity of the smart city definition in terms of practical use and research has not been reached. Even if it is defined, it would highly depend on the context and unique nature of cities. Yet there are city components that are only found in smart cities. A study of these components would be the most practical way of understanding “what make a smart city”. Therefore, this study aims to analyse literature, review definitional elements of smart cities, and derive a comprehensive list of smart city components. Not being a one size fits all, smart city definitions are often interchangeable with other well-defined city conceptions. Those conceptions are a source to outline what smart cities are. Therefore, the terms digital city, intelligent city, ubiquitous city, global city, and sustainable city are compared with smart city characteristics. In the same way, definitional elements from ten latest literature sources were identified. Smart city components identified in the literature were then reviewed and combined to form a list of components under the themes; smart economy, smart people, smart living, smart environment, smart mobility, and smart governance which were supposed to integrate with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. While these components are the frontline, smart cities also intent to ensure urban, public services, and citizen development. With this, the paper presents a holistic summary of the characteristics that define the smartness of a smart city.