What is the definition of Smart City ?

The Former Denver Mayor, W. Webb, said,

“The 19^th century was a century of empires, 20^th century was a century of nation states and the 21^st century will be a century of cities.”

Today, we can see that cities are becoming more and more important in several fields: economy, politics, environment… It therefore becomes necessary for cities to evolve to become intelligent. This is driving the Smart City initiative more and more local authorities are working towards.

The enthusiasm for Smart Cities shows that this concept will become the sinews of war for communities in the years to come. But what does it really represent? Let us show you!

An unclear definition…

Wikipedia defines the Smart City as:

“An urban area that integrates information and communication technology (ICT) and the Internet of things (IoT) to collect data and so optimize the efficiency of city operations and services and connect to citizens.”

However, is this definition fixed? Can we simply link the Smart City concept to the use of new technologies? Some stakeholders agree more on a definition of Smart City that revalues the place of the citizen in the city. That is the case of Bettina Tratz-Ryan, research vice president at Gartner (the world’s leading research and advisory company), who states that “The way forward today is a community-driven, bottom-up approach where citizens are an integral part of designing and developing smart cities, and not a top-down policy with city leaders focusing on technology platforms alone.” With these definitions, we see that this recent definition is still shifting and ambiguous.

Objectives of a Smart City

This ambiguity in the definition of Smart City also comes from the fact that its objectives and fields of action are very broad.

Various objectives

The objectives of a Smart City are varied. The first is to strengthen communication and connections with citizens. Then comes the need to ensure the attractiveness of the territory. This is followed by the development of new services, the implementation of sustainable initiatives and savings in municipal management.

Diverse fields of definition

The fields of definition of a Smart City are very diversified:

• Facilitate circulation. With, for example, the sending of traffic information messages on city billboards or via notifications on smartphones of motorists.
• Improve health. By offering cyclists air quality monitoring and notifications.
• Facilitate administrative procedures. By developing dematerialized public services through document management.
• The economy of functionality. With shared services (mobility, buildings, equipment…).
• Circular economy. With recycling, biomethanization, etc.
• Modernization of tools. By promoting the division of labor in order to improve working conditions for administrative agents.

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The Smart City : a vision for the future

The definition of Smart City, although new, is already generating public interest. The Smart Cities market is growing rapidly. According to Statista (the statistics portal for market research), in 2015, global smart city spending reached 15 billion U.S. dollars. In 2020, the worldwide spending should reach  34 billion U.S. dollars.

To read : Why does the Smart City redefine the place of the citizen in the city ?

To take a Smart City to the next level, cities must focus in particular on the dematerialization of public services in order to improve the management of citizen relations. This is why NeoLedge has developed a solution to support municipalities in digital transformation.

Ask for a demonstration of Elise ECM for Smart Cities!