The business of Smart Cities and Their Characteristics
In essence, the term “smart city” is used to denote the business model used by a city as it relates
to how specific goals are met using innovative systems and processes with a stakeholder orientation.
At the heart of this lies managing innovation and change accomplished through technological solutions
and collaborative processes that underlie the accomplishment of goals. The smart orientation does not
necessarily need to be Information and Communications Technology (ICT) driven.
The orientation towards “smart” initiatives is defined by the innovative use of state-of-art technology systems. The literature, at large, identifies urbanization as the key factor that has fostered the emergence and growth of the smart-city concept. The prediction is for 26 smart cities to emerge by 2025, predominantly from North America and Europe [9]. The allocation of resources that forms the basis for cities to become smarter in orientation is foundational to the concept.
Underlying the allocation of resources is the very need of developing smart solutions to emerging problems in many of the cities around the world where urbanization has resulted in the growth of more populous cities. Clearly, population increase in cities has led to the emergence of problems that encompass health, economic, social and environmental conditions.
As a result, administrators have employed mechanisms for effective governance with the objective of solving specific problems. Snow et al. [1] use “Smart Aarhus, the smart-city initiative of Aarhus, Denmark” (p. 93) as a case to emphasize how such problems are being addressed. Technical and social problems that Aarhus had to deal with were addressed by “integrating and synchronizing its systems for water, transportation, energy, healthcare, waste removal/recycling, and so on”. The authors further point out that the goals and objectives were accomplished by using collaboration as the platform on which execution of the plan was achieved.
Smart cities have specific characteristics that form a basis for the accomplishment of objectives. These characteristics have been identified in the literature to include: efficient information and communications technology (ICT), co-creative platforms to engage stakeholders from idea generation to product solution stages, effective use of data generated through interfaces with key stakeholders, including big data availability using state-of-art systems. In this regard, the use of open data is an emerging concept in the identification and provision of smart solutions to key stakeholders [10]. The smart city concept emphasizes on human capital and infrastructure with information management at its core [11]. Smart solutions are a function of how key skills of employees are used in the delivery of outcomes. Problem solving needs to be at the heart of such an approach achieved through an integration of systems encompassing public and private sector entities. Inter-organizational collaborative platforms form an integral part of such an approach founded on an architecture that leads to public-private partnerships. At the center of this is the essence of providing key services (and solutions) with the overall objective of benefiting society and the public at large that includes welfare oriented objectives. This approach is consistent with the latest trend of urbanization which focuses on human capital [12]. Smart cities can achieve key objectives using resources that are dependent on the deployment of ICT and governance mechanisms founded on transparency, customer centricity and efficiency [12].
Moreover, a major characteristic of such cities is their citizens who engage at a high level and use networks that enable better communication and coordination. The pillars of a smart city are essentially people, technology and processes in how they connect with various sectors including healthcare, education, transportation, telecom, tourism, utilities, public safety and buildings. Even control systems have web-enabled mechanisms, which provide an integrated approach to managing outcomes. In essence, the characteristics of a smart city could be summarized to include six elements: Smart Mobility, Smart Government, Smart Economy, Smart People, Smart Living and Smart Environment [13,14]. A ranking of smart cities in 2015 suggests that Barcelona was identified as the top smart city in the world as it consistently ranked “above average” on all attributes related to the smart city concept, even though cities such as New York and Singapore ranked above Barcelona on certain attributes [15]. However, the ranking in 2016 saw Singapore, which was in fifth position the previous year, rise to the top position ahead of Barcelona [16]. The attributes related to technology, buildings, utilities, transportation and road infrastructure, and the smart city itself (originally identified by Sorrell [17]) were the characteristics that were essentially used to define the “smart city” concept. The cities that ranked high on the list were ahead in terms of the efficient use of integrated systems and processes to optimize on energy consumption while reducing waste and congestion. The use of technology was Sustainability 2017, 9, 2279 4 of 24 identified as an integral component of the system characteristics. Such systems are used across various sectors ranging from healthcare and transportation to utilities and tourism
Innovative use of state-of-art technology
The orientation towards “smart” initiatives is defined by the innovative use of state-of-art technology systems. The literature, at large, identifies urbanization as the key factor that has fostered the emergence and growth of the smart-city concept. The prediction is for 26 smart cities to emerge by 2025, predominantly from North America and Europe [9]. The allocation of resources that forms the basis for cities to become smarter in orientation is foundational to the concept.
Underlying the allocation of resources is the very need of developing smart solutions to emerging problems in many of the cities around the world where urbanization has resulted in the growth of more populous cities. Clearly, population increase in cities has led to the emergence of problems that encompass health, economic, social and environmental conditions.
As a result, administrators have employed mechanisms for effective governance with the objective of solving specific problems. Snow et al. [1] use “Smart Aarhus, the smart-city initiative of Aarhus, Denmark” (p. 93) as a case to emphasize how such problems are being addressed. Technical and social problems that Aarhus had to deal with were addressed by “integrating and synchronizing its systems for water, transportation, energy, healthcare, waste removal/recycling, and so on”. The authors further point out that the goals and objectives were accomplished by using collaboration as the platform on which execution of the plan was achieved.
Smart cities have specific characteristics that form a basis for the accomplishment of objectives. These characteristics have been identified in the literature to include: efficient information and communications technology (ICT), co-creative platforms to engage stakeholders from idea generation to product solution stages, effective use of data generated through interfaces with key stakeholders, including big data availability using state-of-art systems. In this regard, the use of open data is an emerging concept in the identification and provision of smart solutions to key stakeholders [10]. The smart city concept emphasizes on human capital and infrastructure with information management at its core [11]. Smart solutions are a function of how key skills of employees are used in the delivery of outcomes. Problem solving needs to be at the heart of such an approach achieved through an integration of systems encompassing public and private sector entities. Inter-organizational collaborative platforms form an integral part of such an approach founded on an architecture that leads to public-private partnerships. At the center of this is the essence of providing key services (and solutions) with the overall objective of benefiting society and the public at large that includes welfare oriented objectives. This approach is consistent with the latest trend of urbanization which focuses on human capital [12]. Smart cities can achieve key objectives using resources that are dependent on the deployment of ICT and governance mechanisms founded on transparency, customer centricity and efficiency [12].
Moreover, a major characteristic of such cities is their citizens who engage at a high level and use networks that enable better communication and coordination. The pillars of a smart city are essentially people, technology and processes in how they connect with various sectors including healthcare, education, transportation, telecom, tourism, utilities, public safety and buildings. Even control systems have web-enabled mechanisms, which provide an integrated approach to managing outcomes. In essence, the characteristics of a smart city could be summarized to include six elements: Smart Mobility, Smart Government, Smart Economy, Smart People, Smart Living and Smart Environment [13,14]. A ranking of smart cities in 2015 suggests that Barcelona was identified as the top smart city in the world as it consistently ranked “above average” on all attributes related to the smart city concept, even though cities such as New York and Singapore ranked above Barcelona on certain attributes [15]. However, the ranking in 2016 saw Singapore, which was in fifth position the previous year, rise to the top position ahead of Barcelona [16]. The attributes related to technology, buildings, utilities, transportation and road infrastructure, and the smart city itself (originally identified by Sorrell [17]) were the characteristics that were essentially used to define the “smart city” concept. The cities that ranked high on the list were ahead in terms of the efficient use of integrated systems and processes to optimize on energy consumption while reducing waste and congestion. The use of technology was Sustainability 2017, 9, 2279 4 of 24 identified as an integral component of the system characteristics. Such systems are used across various sectors ranging from healthcare and transportation to utilities and tourism
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