What is actually a “smart city”?
Let’s talk about smart cities…
The digital and technological revolution has brought about new concepts and ideas, such as the “smart city”. So what is a “smart city”? Are there “smart cities”? How are they built? So let’ s begin with the definition. A “smart city” is a city with digital technology embedded across all its functions.
A “Smart City” uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve its quality and performance and so the engangement and motivation of its citizens. “ The “Smart City” includes government services, transport, traffic management, energy, health care, water and waste”, says Pradeep Kumar. So the goal of a “smart city” is to improve its quality of life by using technology to enhance the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs.
However, we can tell that “a smart city is like a smart device”. Cat Mason , Chief Digital Officer-City of Brisbane (Australia), is worried about applying technology to everything. She says: “My issue with the concept of a “smart city” is that it refers to a city that can be “digitized” or “smartified,” which leads us down a path of thinking about hyper connectivity and data-driven efficiencies. But a city is so much more than that. Cities are hubs of people, supported by infrastructure. Cities are where people come together to experience the benefits of being together in close proximity — access to services and culture are very literally the benefits of urbanization”.
We will name some examples of a “smart city”. Our team (Msc New Media and Journalism, in the course Cultural Management and Communication, Panteion University, Athens)investigated the cases of the following cities: Berlin, Istanbul and Barcelona. Moreover, we studied some interesting cities in Oceania/Australia that developed innovative projects as well, upgrading in this way their status and quality of life.
We cannot desagree that there will be different contradicted opinions about the usability and appliance of technology in cities. But we cannot deny the fact that technology belongs to our future.
Our team: Zarda Myrsini, Kontolatou Marianna, Kontomichis Venedictos, Tsivgeli Maria
To continue read:
Other interesting Links:
https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/amsterdam-marketing/marketing/i-amsterdam/using-the-brand
http://www.smartcitiesprojects.com/whats-the-real-mean-of-smart-city/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_city
https://howwegettonext.com/the-problem-with-smart-cities-226b411f4286#.t96m2ya9s
