Use of BIM in Development of Smart Cities: A Review

Abstract

A smart city is a community that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance the standard of community services and the health of people. The smart city concept takes into account the better engagement of its citizens for sustainable resource utilization, social and better relational capital while assuring its quality and performance. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a computer-aided modern parametric solution to revolutionize the decision-making process in the construction of energy-efficient buildings and smart cities. BIM enables design, development, operate and manage the construction endeavors cost-effectively while sharing and exchanging information to all the stakeholders involved. The practical implementation of BIM results in the mitigation of risks in the initial phases of the projects. This paper explores the components of a smart city concept using BIM and its various variants in the development of a smart city. The geographic information system (GIS) environment can aid in providing a suitable data management system in transportation design with minimum accidents, earthquake mitigation, and preventing fire hazards to build a smart city. The review highlights the various tools such as GIS, Building Energy Model (BEM) could be an innovative concept to make a smart city. The given review will help policymakers to adopt BIM on their way to build a sustainable, reliable, energy-efficient smart city construction.