The Smart City: Build It and They Will Come

Abstract

There are many terms that are being used today. Smart cities, Intelligent Community, smart planning, smart infrastructure, big data, intelligent data, broadband systems, digital defense and cybersecurity are just some of the phrases that are being used by journalists, urban planners and technologists. The result is that confusion abounds when it comes to the phrase smart cities. Does it mean better and more informed planning to make a city work more efficiently to make urban areas more livable and responsive to citizen needs? Or does it just mean using more automation, artificial intelligence and broadband digital networks to create smart infrastructure that operates more smoothly at lower cost?