Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation: Case Studies, Current Trends, and Future Steps

By Anthony Kent

Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation establishes a key theoretical framework to understand the implementation and development of smart cities as innovation drivers, in terms of lasting impacts on productivity, livability and sustainability of specific initiatives. This framework is based on empirical analysis of 12 case studies, including pioneer projects from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and more. It explores how successful smart cities initiatives nurture both technological and social innovation using a combination of regulatory governance and private agency. Typologies of smart city-making approaches are explored in depth. Integrative analysis identifies key success factors in establishing innovation relating to the effectiveness of social systems, institutional thickness, governance, the role of human capital, and streamlining funding of urban development projects.

• Cases from a range of geographies, scales, social and economic contexts
• Explores how smart cities can promote technological and social innovation in terms of direct impacts on livability, productivity and sustainability
• Establishes an integrative framework based on empirical evidence to develop more innovative smart city initiatives
• Investigates the role of governments in coordinating, fostering and guiding innovations resulting from smart city developments
• Interrogates the policies and governance structures which have been effective in supporting the development and deployment of smart cities

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: Sep 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9780128188873

Book preview

Japan

Chapter 1: Introduction: Being smarter for productivity, livability, and sustainability

Soheil Sabri    Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the book, in which several cases of technological innovation and social innovation initiatives are discussed. It outlines the book’s organization and calls for a comprehensive understanding of the drivers, actors, and outcomes of smart city initiatives. As such, Chapter 2 develops a framework to examine city experiences in 11 countries/cities across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the United Kingdom. The case studies provided in Chapters 3–14 constitute the ground for evaluation of exogenous and endogenous factors of smart city implementation and associated outcomes in Chapter 15. The last chapter highlights future directions for smart cities and outlines the role that preexisting information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures play in the resilience of cities, most recently, in response to the social-distancing requirements of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Keywords

Smart city; Digital technology; Technological innovations; Social innovation; Resilience; COVID-19

Chapter outline

1.1Introduction

1.2Asia-Pacific

1.3Africa and the Middle East

1.4Americas

1.5Europe

1.6Conclusion

References

1.1: Introduction

This book aims to develop a framework in which the smart city experiences in different jurisdictions across the Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe and the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Africa can be examined. The framework, detailed in Chapter 2, is developed to understand drivers, actors, and policy outcomes as well as technological platforms that underpin the innovations that have enhanced productivity, sustainability, and livability. While the scale of smart city initiatives varies in different geographical contexts, it is important to see how it is encouraged by technological innovation and how it stimulates innovation in the entire city. This book identifies the key drivers of current smart city practices in multiple locations. It also outlines key actors and their roles—governments, private industries, information and communication technology (ICT) firms, citizens, and end-users in each context. The identification of key drivers, actors, and outcomes in an organized fashion provides important insights for other jurisdictions on how to better revise or formulate their current and future policies and plans toward technological and social innovation movements.

To achieve this aim, the book is comprised of 16 chapters. This chapter summarizes the book’s content and argues that it is important to investigate different geographical locations and scales to better provide knowledge and insight for evidence-based policymaking. Chapter 2 builds a coherent conceptual framework that brings together key ideas on smart cities as they relate to technological aspects, but also its underestimated and somewhat conflicted social innovation potential. Chapters 3–14 then present the case studies. Eleven nations and cities from six different geographical regions are surveyed. Chapter 15 evaluates and compares different experiences and paths taken in the case studies and outlines the differences and similarities of smart cities initiatives. This chapter also aligns the case studies with the framework formulated by Kim, Sabri, and Kent in Chapter 2. Finally, Chapter 16 provides concluding remarks and implications of findings for future developments using smart cities as a platform. Given that the publication of this book is concurrent with the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Chapter 16 explores the role of ICT infrastructure in the global phenomenon of social distancing and new working patterns emerging from this global economic and health crisis.

1.2: Asia-Pacific

For more than two decades, several countries across the Asia-Pacific region have adopted technological innovation and undertaken smart city initiatives in their national and local policies. Singapore and South Korea have been implementing innovative technologies since the early 2000s. Over the last decade, other countries in this region have also fast tracked the adoption of smart cities, which attracted corporate high-tech businesses moving to the Asia-Pacific, where digital infrastructures such as Internet of Things (IoT) and multicloud architecture have been established with reasonable cost.

Singapore is a pioneer in adopting new technologies in all aspects of city-state management and operation. As an example, the concept of whole-of-government (WHOG) was adopted to provide multiagency collaboration in government. One of the major developments in the WHOG initiative is using accurate and realistic urban data for communication and decision making. As such, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) took leadership of developing and maintaining accurate and multidimensional (2D and 3D) data for land, buildings, infrastructure, and vegetation. Having reliable and up-to-date 3D data enables different government agencies to examine their policies and future scenarios, ensuring the livability of residents, increasing productivity, and minimizing or eradicating environmental impacts. In Chapter 3, Lim et al. illustrate how such data can be used in interagency collaboration with the support of an innovative platform developed by the Centre for Spatial Data and Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA)a at The University of Melbourne to address environmental challenges of urban redevelopment. The example of Singapore demonstrates how adopting a novel spatial data infrastructure enables multiagency collaboration and community engagement to address environmental, social, and economic challenges.

The second high-tech investment in Singapore is autonomous vehicles (AVs). Singapore is regarded as a world leader in providing policy, technology, and infrastructure for AVs. Ng and Kim, in Chapter 14, explore the case of AVs and outline how the Singapore government facilitated this technological innovation to achieve social, environmental, and economic outcomes.

The South Korean smart city initiative is another example, which started in the early 2000s with the incorporation of ICT infrastructure to enhance the quality of life and improve urban competitiveness (Kim and Kim, 2013). The South Korean approach played a fundamental role in adopting several smart city projects including Sejong smart city and Busan Eco-Delta City. In Chapter 4, Choi and Kim explore the historical development paths of South Korean smart cities in the context of technological adoption in urban development. They also see Sejong 5-1 Neighborhood pilot project from the lens of sustainability, livability, and productivity. This experience is unique in its kind as Sejong is a new city (73 km² and target population of 500,000 by 2030) incorporating smart technologies with public services and the knowledge economy. Choi and Kim show how smart mobility, healthcare, public safety and education leverage innovative technologies. Incorporating smart technologies in city operations in Sejong has as its objective reduction of the environmental footprint. Examples are a zero-energy city plan through Virtual Power Plants (VPP) and renewable energy generation facilities in public buildings of Sejong. Choi and Kim critically evaluate the smart city initiatives in Sejong in light of economic impacts, urban equity, readiness for adopting new technologies in the future, and the role of key actors in addressing future urban challenges.

Chapter 5 introduces the core drivers of Japan’s ongoing transformation. Barrett, DeWit and Yarime cover Japan’s urban policies dealing with natural disasters (after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011), population decline, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One recent initiative is the Society 5.0 industry policy, a 5-year strategy beginning in January 2016, which outlines the fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan. Japan moved from state-led strategies focusing on effectiveness and efficiency on sustainable energy production and consumption to societal challenges due to natural disasters. The new program of Society 5.0 plans to address a broad spectrum of challenges through the adoption of innovative technologies, including IoT, 5G, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Contrary to Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, as shown by McShane in Chapter 6, Australia’s pace of materializing smart cities has been slower. As one of the most highly urbanized countries, there is interest in moving toward smart technologies. The Australian Government released the Smart Cities Plan in 2016 as their first national policy to support the application of innovative technologies in enhancing livability, productivity, and sustainability (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016). Accordingly, the government funded AUS $90 million in 2 rounds for 80 projects in the areas of smart infrastructure, smart precincts, smart services, and communities. The larger Australian cities such as Melbourne and Sydney have leveraged the government’s support in addressing infrastructure, traffic, and environmental challenges, whereas the small- and middle-size cities such as Adelaide used these incentives to recover from economic and population decline.

Most smart city policies, plans, and projects have emphasized the adoption of digital technologies in providing services and managing infrastructures. However, in Chapter 7, Kim and Feng present a different view, introducing Smart Gusu in Suzhu, China. Here, the emphasis is more on social and cultural concerns. In fact, the Smart Gusu’s precedent plan, Digital Gusu (2013–2015), considered the adoption of information technology and infrastructure, which turned to the social side of innovation in the next development strategy. The authors explain the extent to which the perceptions of stakeholders, including residents and government, vary or find commonality in considering digital technology that supports different social and cultural innovations. They show how participatory planning for smart and sustainable development can inform future developments and highlight the role of community engagement in understanding how digital technology and infrastructure could facilitate necessary services to end-users.

In Chapter 8, Thai, Khuat, and Kim continue this theme in their work on Vietnam, conveying the crucial role of residents in delivery of services through the smart city platform. They demonstrate how information can be leveraged including in informal economies, through four case studies: a historical city center, a modern neighborhood, an urbanized village, and a high-tech area. Thai et al. draw our attention to the role of the smart city in offering inclusive economic development and in mitigating socioeconomic inequality.

1.3: Africa and the Middle East

The extent of implementation of digital infrastructure and smart city development across Africa and the Middle East varies greatly. This is because of the extreme variability and instability in economic and political conditions in these regions. Over the last decade, many African countries, especially in Northern Africa including Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan experienced political turmoil. Some of these countries are part of the Middle East, where their instability generated a series of geopolitical challenges, including the Arab Spring as well as war in countries such as Syria, Iraq, and around the borders with Turkey and Iran (Aboueldahab et al., 2017). These geopolitical challenges have damaged even the primary physical and social infrastructures in parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, despite the issues in political, economic, and environmental aspects of the MENA region, other states including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, and other Gulf countries have leveraged four decades of economic growth to put in place policies and strategies adopting innovative technologies for social welfare and sustainability. In addition, while West African countries have had fewer political issues, rapid urbanization has been one of the major challenges to be addressed in the last two decades.

In Chapter 9, Korah outlines the emergence of smart city solutions in an African context. Highlighted are the key actors in policymaking and strategic planning addressing the urban growth challenges of Accra, Ghana. Conceptualizing the smart city in the context of a broader urban development strategy, Korah analyzes Accra’s City Extension Project (ACEPT) to highlight the visions, key motivations, and social and economic implications. The author examines the extent to which smart city planning in Ghana has been successful in creating an inclusive, livable urban environment, although with mixed results.

In distinction with Ghana, addressing human well-being, inclusiveness, and livability requirements in the UAE is facilitated by oil reserves resulting in significant income for the government. In Chapter 10, Sabri shows how the seven Emirates have invested significantly in innovative technologies and contributed to digital city transformation. Dubai’s commitment to smart city measures and innovation emphasizes the promotion of happiness and a sense of satisfaction for residents and visitors. While Dubai’s commitment to digital city transformation started in 1995 (Bishr and Lootah, 2016), the government’s response to the political challenges and instabilities in the MENA region was to improve public satisfaction through the adoption of policies and visions, including the ambitious objective to become the happiest city on earth. As an example, a Happiness Meter is used to deliver a city-wide view of people’s happiness. Developed as a mobile and desktop application, the Happiness Meter captures the live city sentiment and the data can be used for generating the map of happiness at the city level. The measurement, monitoring and reporting of people’s level of satisfaction can be disaggregated to particular industries and areas.

Chapter 10 investigates the pathway, drivers, and key actors of technological innovation programs in Dubai through the lens of social innovation, with three dimensions of formalization, change processes, and social outcomes. Sabri investigates the historical development paths of the smart city in Dubai to highlight the formalization dimension. Furthermore, to outline the change process, Dubai’s city-wide transformation into a smart city is explored. Ultimately, the social dimension is viewed through the results of Dubai’s vision of Becoming the Happiest City in The Earth.

1.4: Americas

Understanding the concept of smart cities in American countries is important if for no other reason than that many fast-growing economies such as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina have significantly contributed to Gross World Product (GWP). These countries, along with more developed economies such as the United States and Canada, represent the Americas in the G20 (Group of Twenty), where policies on the promotion of international financial stability are discussed and planned. Accordingly, these countries, along with emerging economies such as Chile, have been progressively adopting smart technologies in different sectors including infrastructure, finance, mobility, big data and analytics, 5G and IoT, and cybersecurity (Smart Cities World Forums, 2020). The Smart Cities World Forum in 2017 estimated that the cybersecurity market in South America will reach US$13.49 billion by 2022 (Smart Cities World Forums, 2017).

Accordingly, as an important urban discourse and practice, the smart city plays a crucial role in urban planning and management in many of the abovementioned countries. In Chapter 11, Tironi and Albornoz discuss the Chilean experience in the adoption of a smart platform for governing safety and security. The authors explore the concept of the smart city as a sociotechnical imaginary in the context of Santiago de Chile. Tironi and Albornoz define the sociotechnical imaginary as a set of visions sustained by infrastructures, practices, and more or less shared meanings of social life which in turn reveal futures that are desirable for a society. The experience of Santiago is presented through a mobile application called SoSafe, which interconnects different departments responsible for emergency and public safety including police, firefighters, and private healthcare providers. The study indicates a mere example of how smart city technology plays a crucial role as a catalyst for innovation and enterprises as well as a platform for public-private partnership in coordinating urban safety.

Besides the important role of the sociotechnical aspects of smart cities in South America, it is crucial to investigate the role of private industries in investment and development of smart technologies in the world. The United States can be considered one of the major locations in this respect, where the private sector has invested heavily in research, development, and implementation of smart technologies. In Chapter 12, Johnson and Cocks show that three out of five global smart city vendors are from US companies. They include very formidable brands such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and IBM. The authors identify the trajectory of smart city adoption across the United States. The roles of the public and private sectors in implementing energy efficiency through the smart grid of Ohio, Columbus are investigated, and it is shown how a public-private partnership in a smart city platform delivers technological, environmental, and social benefits.

1.5: Europe

There are many world-renowned examples of smart city initiatives across Europe. Perhaps most of the literature about smart city cases centers on the experience of European countries (Batty et al., 2012; Caragliu et al., 2011; De Falco, 2019; Kourtit et al., 2012). The European Commission has always been a key actor and supporter in implementing smart technologies across its member states. The Europe 2020 strategy, released in 2010, has focused on smart growth and inspired many countries across Europe to invest in digital technologies to address requirements, including education and research innovation, low-carbon economies, and job creation to name a few. Accordingly, the United Kingdom formed its policies and leveraged established initiatives such as the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), whose role is to align investments and policies toward achieving the Europe 2020 strategy, and many other national agendas, toward smart development.

One of the first smart city pilot projects in the United Kingdom was planned and implemented in Glasgow. In Chapter 13, Miao introduces the Future City Glasgow Program (FCGP, 2013–15) and considers the international, national, and local drivers for initiating such policy. The example of Glasgow highlights how the smart city as a platform, shaped by the exogenous and endogenous factors, can attract global attention to its technological development. Furthermore, there are lessons for local councils on how to leverage technological innovations for social change and citizen engagement.

The final two chapters consolidate the experiences and evaluate the recent trends based on the development paths of smart cities. In Chapter 15, Kim and Kent provide an account of different internal and external factors leading to smart city implementation as well as desired and/or expected social innovation outcomes. In Chapter 16, Kim provides concluding remarks on the way forward for smart cities in the face of uncertainty. The author discusses the rights to innovation, land value capture in smart city development, disruptive institutional breakthroughs, and incentives for innovation. In a saddening and frightening new situation, the final chapter finds as its unwanted context the global health crisis of COVID-19. It considers the role of preexisting ICT infrastructure in response to social distancing and quarantine requirements involving a mass shift to online work, dramatically enlarging the window for virtual social and economic interaction.

1.6: Conclusion

In the wake of uncertainty on the role of the smart city and digital technology investments for the changing social, economic, and environmental landscape of cities, this book aims to enlighten on different experiences worldwide. Developing a conceptual framework, it considers the experience of cities in using technological platforms to enhance productivity, sustainability, and livability. It investigates the role of exogenous and endogenous factors as drivers of smart city implementation in 11 cities across several continents/regions including the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, the Americas and Europe. These changes can be seen in interagency collaboration, social behavior and community engagement in the delivery of urban services. With the broad spectrum of smart technology applications covered comes a comprehensive insight on key drivers, actors, and outcomes of innovative technology adoption in different political, economic, and social contexts.

References

Aboueldahab N., Yousef T.M., Pinto L., Kabbani N., Ghafar A.A., Swart M., Fathollah-Nejad A., Alaaldin R., Milton-Edwards B., Pethiyagoda K. The Middle East and North Africa in 2018: Challenges, Threats, and Opportunities, Brookings. Available from: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-middle-east-and-north-africa-in-2018-challenges-threats-and-opportunities/. 2017.

Batty M., Axhausen K.W., Giannotti F., Pozdnoukhov A., Bazzani A., Wachowicz M., Ouzounis G., Portugali Y. Smart cities of the future. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 2012;214(1):481–518. doi:10.1140/epjst%252fe2012-01703-3.

Bishr A., Lootah W. Smart Dubai towards Becoming the Happiest City on Earth. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Available from: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2016/Content/AgendaFiles/document/13267dca-e1af-4833-a722-dccef7630f27/Towards_Becoming_The_Happiest_City_on_Earth.pdf. 2016.

Caragliu A., Del Bo C., Nijkamp P. Smart cities in Europe. J. Urban Technol. 2011;18(2):65–82. doi:10.1080/10630732.2011.601117.

Commonwealth of Australia. Smart Cities Plan. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; 2016. Available from: https://cities.dpmc.gov.au/htmlfile.

De Falco S. Are smart cities global cities? A European perspective. Eur. Plan. Stud. 2019;27(4):759–783. doi:10.1080/09654313.2019.1568396.

Kim H.M., Kim T.S. U-City development for economic competitiveness in an advanced ICT era. In: Boscarino G., Notte D., eds. Economic Developments and Emerging Markets of the 21st Century: Global Practices, Strategies, and Challenges. New York: Nova; 2013:245–264.

Kourtit K., Nijkamp P., Arribas D. Smart cities in perspective––a comparative European study by means of self-organizing maps. Innovation. 2012;25(2):229–246. doi:10.1080/13511610.2012.660330.

Smart Cities World Forums. Cybersecurity Market in South America Estimated to Reach 13bn by 2022—Smart Cities World Forums, Smart Cities World Forums. Available from: http://www.smartcitiesworldforums.com/news/smart-cities-south-america/cybersecurity-sa/226-cybersecurity-market-in-south-america-estimated-to-reach-13bn-by-2022. 2017.

Smart Cities World Forums. Smart Cities: South America—Smart Cities World Forums, Smart Cities World Forums. Available from: http://www.smartcitiesworldforums.com/news/smart-cities-south-america. 2020.

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ahttp://csdila.unimelb.edu.au/.

Chapter 2: Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation in productivity, sustainability, and livability: A conceptual framework

Hyung Min Kima; Soheil Sabrib; Anthony Kentc    a Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

b Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

c Centre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Abstract

Despite a great deal of attention paid to smart cities, the conceptual framework for understanding them has been partial at best. This chapter establishes a holistic framework to define and evaluate smart cities through three core objectives that any city wants to improve—productivity, sustainability, and livability. Although smartness includes a wide range of aspects within a city, it should tackle the complexity of urban challenges internally and externally generated. Thus, adaptive capacity is becoming more and more important, requiring timely innovation. The chapter asserts cities are and should be a platform for technological and social innovation to enhance these three urban cores. Creating smart cities via innovation is not a one-way process, but reciprocal. Innovation can create smart built environments, and, in turn, smart cities engender innovation. There are many successful evidences and documented examples of both technology-oriented initiatives and social innovation strategies worldwide. However, there is limited understanding of the combined view on technological innovation or social innovation that can contribute to meeting urban challenges. Furthermore, how the urban future might benefit from interdependency and interactions of the elements in these two concepts has not been fully explored. The research will set an agenda for measurement of cities’ performance in productivity, sustainability, and livability from both technological and social innovation perspectives.

Keywords

Technological innovation; Social innovation; Smart city; Productivity; Sustainability; Livability

Chapter outline

2.1Introduction

2.2The evolution of cities from being ordinary to being smart

2.2.1Defining smart cities

2.2.2A historic overview of smart cities

2.2.3Objectives of smart city making initiatives

2.2.4Smart city making initiatives vs smart city status

2.3Technological innovation

2.4Social innovation

2.4.1Social innovation: Genesis and concept

2.4.2Citizens, social innovation and governance

2.4.3Social innovation and smart cities

2.5Smart city drivers and actors

2.5.1Key drivers of the smart city making

2.5.2Key actors of smart city making

2.6Conclusion

References

2.1: Introduction

By reviewing the evolution of cities, this chapter establishes a conceptual framework to better understand smart cities from an innovation perspective. Smart cities are broad in concept and definition. Among the broad approaches to defining smart cities, here this chapter stresses that technology, in particular, information and communication technology (ICT), is a core element in current smart city practices. The term smart cities did not originate from the literature on smart urban growth in the early 1980s. Rather, it emerged in the wake of new technological advancements such as digitalization, the world wide web, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI), and the proliferation of smartphones in the late 2000s. There are many shreds of evidences worldwide that indicate the role of technological innovations in implementing social (inclusive) urban policies. As an example, many city councils use web-based geographical information systems (GIS) to communicate future urban development projects and engage with communities in providing better urban services.

This chapter formulates a framework with the idea of smart cities as not only the outcome of technological and social innovation but also the platform to facilitate technological and social innovation. The objectives of these innovations in smart cities are to enhance productivity, sustainability, and livability. It is important to understand how smart built environments further facilitate innovation systems in the city. Current literature and practices convey the impression that smart cities are a static end status. However, there is little research available on how smart cities can be a dynamic platform that can lead to technological and social innovation. While it is unclear whether technological innovation is a precondition for social innovation, it is undeniable that these two innovations are interlocked with each other.

There are important drivers and actors involved in smart city making. Globalization of smart city ideas and its seemingly promising prosperity may push central governments to establish national-level policy and entrepreneurial local governments to support, implement, and invent smart city projects. New interdisciplinary business models developed by ICT firms, as leaders in new technologies, can cover almost all fields of urban activities including housing, networks, mobility, energy, and infrastructure to name a few. Real estate developers and urban planners/designers are keen to integrate these technologies into built environments. Residents in the city are end users of the realized technology and they become, in turn, new inventors for further innovation.

The chapter will explore both the technological and social dimensions of smart cities and investigates the major drivers and actors for initiating and running smart city programs in different jurisdictions. It concludes with formulating a framework for further study on smart cities as a dynamic platform for deriving technological and social innovations.

2.2: The evolution of cities from being ordinary to being smart

2.2.1: Defining smart cities

Many cities have embraced ICT as an important input for their urban development and adopted digital infrastructures as a fundamental requirement for urban management, productivity, and future urban form (Kitchin, 2014). ICT is becoming a more important urban infrastructure, fostering innovation-driven urban economies, efficient governance, and more. Angelidou (2015) believes that smart cities are the outcome of urban future movements, knowledge and innovation economies, technology push, and application pull. While there is no one-size-fits-all definition due to the wide scope of smartness and the complexity of cities (Albino et al., 2015), some practitioners, international institutions, and government sectors have attempted to define what smart cities are.

A Smart City is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies for the benefit of its inhabitants and business.

European Commission (n.d.)

A Smarter City is connecting the physical infrastructure, the IT infrastructure, the social infrastructure, and the business infrastructure to leverage the collective intelligence of the city.

Harrison et al. (2010, p. 2)

Smart City initiatives can help overcome the limitations of traditional urban development that tends to manage urban infrastructure systems in silos. The siloed system leads to poor information sharing between systems, functions and stakeholders, such as citizens, businesses, government and civil society organizations. Smart City initiatives leverage data and services offered by digital technologies, such as cloud computing, open data sets, or the Internet of Things to help connect city stakeholders, improve citizen involvement, offer new or enhanced existing services, and provide context-aware views on city operations. A city-wide digital infrastructure can help integrate different urban infrastructure systems including energy, water, sewage, or transport, and enable efficient management, control and optimization of such systems. These initiatives also address environmental and human-capacity issues.

Estevez et al. (2016, p.