Smart cities employ advanced technologies to enhance efficiency and foster sustainable development. However, these complex systems must be properly maintained so as not to fail at operating correctly.
For these communities to function effectively, they require a robust infrastructure that permits for real-time monitoring and communication of suboptimal performance issues. Furthermore, they should foster an environment that attracts residents while creating a sense of place.
Sustainability
Smart cities utilize digital technologies to improve the quality of life for citizens, including lives saved, safer streets, less crime, reduced waste production and lower energy consumption and carbon emissions.
These technologies provide practical, low-cost solutions to real world problems ranging from digital parking guidance systems and charging stations for electric cars to citizen portals enabling event organization. Furthermore, they help city governments streamline processes like electricity distribution and refuse collection.
However, current literature provides limited insight into how smart city solutions relate to sustainability. In an attempt to increase conceptual clarity, the authors of the present paper explored how sustainability is integrated into various definitions of smart cities; results-oriented definitions tend towards including sustainability features while non-sustainability focused definitions tend more toward process orientated ones do not. They have also looked at technology’s role as it pertains to end results of smart cities; sustainability-oriented definitions typically place greater emphasis on technology as an approach towards reaching an outcome.
Mobility
One of the major challenges and potential rewards of Smart cities lies in collecting, analyzing and using data about how people and things move through a city. This information can help planners plan roadway infrastructure upgrades, manage traffic flows more effectively, reduce vehicle fatalities more rapidly, increase economic activity more swiftly, monitor public health more closely, shorten commute times and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions more effectively.
Congested roads waste time and resource, while creating environmental sustainability problems by taking up valuable space that could be better utilized by pedestrians or bicycle lanes – and accounts for 22 percent of global carbon emissions.
Smart cities proactively strive to identify, test, and advance technology-driven solutions that address issues that compromise quality of life for residents while hindering population growth. MGI research indicates that such initiatives vary in success across cities; those producing value economically viable for consumers, businesses and the city itself produce applications such as home security systems or lifestyle wearables with upfront investments or services such as e-hailing/ride sharing that offer free or reduced rates to users as examples of successful applications.
Security
Smart city networks are complex networks comprised of various connected devices producing, transmitting and processing vast amounts of data. If not properly policed, cyberattackers could exploit this information to steal sensitive data or launch attacks on critical systems – and any seemingly innocuous connected device can provide hackers with an entryway into these critical systems.
As part of a man-in-the-middle attack, hackers may break into or disrupt communication between systems such as power and water utilities, disrupting communication or disrupting operations resulting in loss of service or biohazard contamination that affects citizens’ health and safety.
At present, however, appropriate security solutions exist that can prevent these attacks. A secure data distribution platform that covers the actual use cases of the smart city must also include information distribution controls to assign attributes like departments or positions (security levels). In addition, these platforms should include tamper detection technology to detect devices tampered with – an integral element for protecting its integrity as a whole system.
Community
Smart cities depend on an ecosystem to enable and support them, including people using smart services to access public information and utilities, be more engaged with city administration, participate in policy making processes, mitigate environmental issues such as traffic congestion or pollution and take advantage of greener energy solutions, among many others.
Smart cities themselves generate data through devices and sensors as well as by gathering information from citizens and businesses through online platforms. All this data must then be stored and intelligently analyzed using systems that form part of the digital infrastructure supporting Smart cities.
Residents need access to smart technology that enables them to take advantage of smart data collection while protecting their privacy, in order to take full advantage of its potential to enhance both their lives and those of the city at large. City Hall must allow residents access to their own data while working closely with residents to develop technology which benefits all.