Smart City

Abstract

The term " smart city " was coined towards the end of the 20th century. It is rooted in the implementation of user-friendly information and communication technologies developed by major industries for urban spaces. Its meaning has since been expanded to relate to the future of cities and their development. Smart cities are forward-looking, progressive and resource-efficient while providing at the same time a high quality of life. They promote social and tech-nological innovations and link existing infrastructures. They incorporate new energy, traffic and transport concepts that go easy on the environment. Their focus is on new forms of governance and public participation. Intelligent decisions need to be taken at the strategic level if cities want to become smart. It takes more than individual projects but careful decisions on long-term implementations. Considering cities as entire systems can help them achieve their ultimate goal of becoming smart. Smart cities forcefully tackle the current global challenges, such as climate change and scarcity of resources. Their claim is also to secure their economic competitiveness and quality of life for urban populations continuously on the rise.