The Green Cities consortium developed the blog post “Smart City Concepts: The Future of Urban Development” under the EU-Funded Project Youth Participation for Developing Sustainable Green Cities (reference number: 2022-1-DE04-KA220-YOU-000085135). L4Y Learning for Youth GmbH is leading the project alongside partners Citizens in Power, Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfı, Kean, Walktogether, and Kaán Károly Környezetvédelmi Egyesület.
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Introduction
Presently, urban development is driven increasingly by technology, operated more efficiently, managed more economically, and seeks to improve the quality of life. In the real world, however, these new technological tools with the increasing availability of data do not solve the big questions of city development and maintenance. Understanding smart cities therefore means, to some large extent, understanding the operating model that is increasingly important today.
Cities are the centres of modern societies, creating much value while using many resources. The city is multifunctional and complex, which can be represented as a demographic, ecological, transport, administrative-territorial and industrial production system. A smart city is a ‘digital’ city, but it cannot be precisely defined, nor should it be considered as a narrowly defined technology-rich city.
Smart cities can be defined as “knowledge cities”, “digital cities” or “eco-cities”. They use their resources intelligently and efficiently, and apply innovative technologies to improve quality of life, cost and energy efficiency, and increase the range of services on offer.
Urbanization and Its Ecological Impact
Urban systems are very highly environmentally demanding as they generate air, noise and light pollution; solid wastes, and wastewater and consume a lot of resources. Typically has a larger footprint and resource use than the whole country Cities and buildings need to be optimised. These cities are the powerhouse of economic globalization, efficient use of local resources and innovation on a global basis.
What are Smart Cities?
While there is no universally accepted definition of a smart city, terms that are related or similar include digital city & intelligent city, and more recently the term for this subject talk– Smart City. As these definitions imply all the terms are related to press both towards sustainable urban development and in particular for ICT industry, knowledge of their precise descriptions has also considerable importance for us as we proceed to realize expectations implicated behind the smart city.
The traditional city is made up of 5 basic subsystems
1. city, which includes industry, transport, science and the construction sector.
2. the enterprise that serves the city, which includes the sectors of immaterial production, i.e. commerce, culture, utilities, education, health and others
3. socio-demographic, which is linked to the professional qualifications of the population.
4. the governance system, which includes government structures and public organizations located in cities.
5. the geospatial subsystem, i.e. the city’s natural resources, housing, production, commercial, health and other functional areas.
Characteristics and factors of a smart city:
| Smart economy – Innovative spirit – Entrepreneurship – Productivity – Flexibility of the labour market – Ability to transform | Smart people – Level of qualification – Affinity to lifelong learning – Social and ethnic plurality – Flexibility |
| Smart governance – Participation in decision-making – Public and social services – Transparent governance – Political strategies and perspectives | Smart mobility – Local accessibility – (Inter)-national accessibility – Availability of ICT infrastructure – Sustainable, innovative & safe transport system |
| Smart environment – Attractivity of natural conditions – Pollution – Environmental protection – Sustainable resources management | Smart living – Cultural facilities – Health conditions – Individual safety – housing quality – Education facilities – Social cohesion |
Smart cities combine infrastructure and technology to improve citizens’ quality of life and enhance their interaction with the urban environment.
Conclusion
The concept of a smart city entails the sustenance of a sustainable, efficient, and connected urban society. Smart cities leverage technology and engage citizens in ways that work to enhance quality of life. They also provide better management and economic growth. Thus, knowledge of these concepts will be significant for the building and maintenance of modern metropolitan areas.
