What is a Smart

City?
Elastic Mountain

Table of Contents
I.

Executive Summary ............................................................................................... 2

Abstract
Introduction
Objectives

II.

Description of Smart Cities ................................................................................... 3

Population Tendencies
Sustainability
History of Smart Cities

III.

Advantages of Smart Cities ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Smart City Infrastructure
Sahana Project
Ushahidi Project

IV.

Smart Cities Today ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Viable methods for completing Smart City Projects
Describe Cities in the Forefront of Smart City Application
Outline Project Scope, Cost, & Time

V.

The Future of Smart Cities....3

Executive Summary
The objective of this paper is to provide a firm understanding of what it means to be a Smart City. Throughout this
document you will find information on the origin of Smart Cities, how Smart Cities function today, and where Smart
Cities are projected to be in the future. Topics include but are not limited to infrastructure, transportation, emergency
response systems, and how they function within a Smart City. After absorbing the information provided in this
document, readers will know why Smart Cities are of global importance and how Smart Cities are shaping the
development in the modern world.

Introduction
The Information Age is a time when an unlimited amount of information can be readily accessed at our
fingertips. Modern people have become accustomed to instant access to information through their smart devices. So if
our devices are smart, why cant the environment we live in also be smart? The development of Smart Cities is an
initiative to transform the way we build and live within urban locations. A Smart City brings efficiency to all functions
of a city. Smart Cities eliminate unilateral governance of a city.
Smart Cities are where the future is headed for human civilization. A Smart City starts, how any city starts, with the
people. Without smart people we cant have Smart Cities. People inhabit cities, build cities, and maintain cities, which
means all functions of a city are dependent on its population. The purpose of this document is to highlight why Smart
Cities are absolutely necessary for us to advance our modern civilization and why everyone involved in city planning
needs to be aware of what technologies are available and how to implement them successfully.

Contained in this document are examples of projects that have helped cities thrive and gain one step closer to becoming
a Smart City. There are also examples of failed projects but these examples are not meant to discourage people to be
ambitious with their ideas and designs. Smart City development is in an experimental state, because up until the 21 st
century it was not technologically possible to implement the systems needed to build such a city.

Objectives
Smart Cities aim to increase benefits for citizens and decrease disadvantages for the environment. A growing concern in
our world is global climate change. A primary goal in a Smart City is to monitor resource consumption and effectively
diminish hazardous emissions into our world. Smart Cities incorporate environmentally friendly practices into daily
functions of a city while still being economically efficient.

Description of Smart Cities

Population Tendencies
Its no secret that the worlds population is increasing at an alarming rate. In the past 60 years, 1950-2010, the worlds
population has almost tripled from 2.5 billion to 7 billion. With this significant increase in population, there has also
been a significant shift of population from rural to urban areas. This urbanization is a problem that, if left uncontrolled,
can cause serious damage to our major cities around the world. The United Nations estimates that by 2020 the urban
population of emerging economies will surpass that of the rural population. This is something that the world has never
seen before and should cause for leaders around the world to be concerned.

Sustainability
As urbanization increases, so do the adverse effects that come along with it. Some of these effects include increase in
slums, air pollution, water shortages, energy shortages, traffic congestion, and an increase in population waste. The
question is then raised: How will cities handle these resource shortages and this waste excess? The answer: by taking
these cities and making them smart.

When a city becomes smart, it implements connections between each and every agencies within the city. These
connections can include energy companies, internet providers, traffic agencies, and waste disposal agencies. With all
these agencies connected, there can be an easier transfer of information which can allow for a more accurate track of

usage and in turn a relationship can be drawn from the amount of usage to the amount of waste that will need to be
disposed. With reports like these in place, there can be preemptive measures taken to prepare for the overflow of waste
so it is more properly managed.

History of Smart Cities

The smart city initiative is something that is extremely new to users around the world. As more technologies emerge,
the more capabilities are possible for users. However, it is the emergence of ICTs that helped kick start the smart city
projects. These ICTs have dramatically increased the capability of intellectual and social capital, which are the main
driving forces behind smart cities.
It is argued that the first legitimate smart city project was started back in October 2010 by SmartCity Kochi. It is
estimated that this smart city project will create 90,000 jobs. To put this into perspective, that is 90,000 jobs for one city
with a population about 600,000. This population is roughly equivalent to that of Baltimore, MD. There are an
estimated 20 cities in the United States with a population of this level or higher. If smart city initiatives were
implemented in these 20 cities, it would bring a minimum of 1.8 million jobs, but most likely more since most of the 20
cities have population levels higher than 600 thousand.

Advantages of Smart Cities

In order for the city to truly be smart its infrastructure needs to change. With a
change in infrastructure theres a change in the culture of how things are run. This
change should go through multiple agencies that help the city function and make
sure they are actually uniform.
Smart City Infrastructure
These agencies tie in with public services and local government offices (electrical company, police department, weather
monitoring, traffic monitoring, and disaster mitigation). Making sure these services are working in unison is very
important. When agencies are in sync there will be less room for error and confusion.
The change in infrastructure will strip out the old system. There will be new standards and procedures for all of these
agencies. Because all of these agencies are all implementing these new standards and procedures they will all speak the
same language and know what to do in certain situations. For example if there is a car accident on the road that requires
more fire stations and ambulance trucks due to its severity, some of these fire stations and EMT members have different
standards and procedures they follow; making the situation very difficult. When these agencies are under one system
there wont be communication and procedural problems.
Uniform system doesnt just consist of public safety issues; it would be prodigiously beneficial in information technology.
When IT specialists are using similar softwares and coding, it makes things more efficient. With similar software and
coding comes similar security holes; the Chief Information Officer will know exactly what to do given the situation of a
compromised system or they will know how to prevent these break-ins.

A few good examples of when agencies come together under a uniformed system would be the Sahana and Ushahidi
open source software systems. These programs are disaster management systems that were developed 2004 and 2007
respectively.

Sahana Project
Sahana was developed after the 2004 Sri Lanka earthquake. Back in 2004 there wasnt any softwares that dealt with
disasters. Sahana essentially keeps track of different registries; they keep track of Missing People Registry, Organization
Registry, Pledge Management, Shelter Registry, Inventory Registry, and Volunteer Coordination. These are databases
where they keep track of names of people/ organizations. The inventory database are updated daily with food, water,
and first-aid supplies. Sahana was meant to be used with the disaster management team along with EMTs and IT
professionals.

Ushahidi Project
Ushahidi was developed in 2007 in an effort to work with Openstreetmap and other GIS softwares like Google Maps.
This crowdsourcing software lets users to report violence or emergencies on maps. The reports are sent in via text and
email. Now its easier to do, all users have to do is go on Openstreetmap and submit locations of shelter, hospitals, and
any reports of violence/ emergencies. These two programs give us a good example when different agencies work
together in an effort to provide more safety and efficiency for citizens.

Smart Cities Today

Viable Methods for Completing Smart City Projects

Smarter cities projects are going on in many parts of the world. The purposes of smart cities are to combine information
and communication technology in creative ways to deliver sustainable economic development with higher quality of life,
and engage citizens towards effectively managing resources. One of the main examples of such innovation is the smart
housing project funded by the Penn State Greater Allegheny in McKeesport, PA. In Smart Houses, there are sensors,
which are strategically placed in the house for seniors. House are fully computerized where nurses put in information
into the computer regarding their behavior and then computer monitors their every move to make sure they dont get
hurt in their house. It reminds them whenever its their medicine time, call and ask for their well being if they are not
moving or have fallen it will call the ambulance or police for them. There are several companies, for example, IBM and
Phillips, are working with Penn State University to make this enterprise possible. They have had great success with it.
Now houses like these are being built in many locations around the world, helping enhance the quality of life for
individuals.

Describe Cities in Forefront of Smart City Initiative

SF Park in San Francisco
There are many smart city projects going on in many cities across the globe. One of the smart initiative cities is San
Francisco. The SF Park has an app, which notifies park goers which parking spot in the city is vacant. Wireless sensors
placed throughout the city provide real time data to app users. The app helps sort out traffic and parking issues, which
are common in a large metropolitan city like San Francisco. The less useless driving motorists do helps reduce smog and
carbon dioxide levels that pollute the air of cities.

Flexible Street Lighting

One of the other main projects is running in Amsterdam. In this project, all the streetlights will have Open Smart Grid
Platform in which all of the lights now will be controlled from one place. Now officials can see which street light is out
or needs repaired. They can also dim or turn up the light too from their office. Dimming the lights on empty places or
turning them off whenever season changes can save them a lot of money and electricity in the long run. Money too is an
invaluable resource.

Project Scope, Time, and Cost

Creating smart cities is no longer the ideas of the future, they are real and are happening now. The planning and
mapping of such vast city wide project takes years to complete. When using the Amsterdam Open Smart Grid Platform

as an example these projects are launched in phases. A whole city cannot be put under construction at one consecutive
time, therefore small sections are completed at a time. The pilot phase of the project was launched in 2009 and
completed in 2011. The first phase cost the city approximately 4 million euros, however outside funding from financiers
was used to complete the second phase.

The Future of Smart Cities

As urbanization continually increases over the next few decades, there will need to be a response initiated to help control
and maintain the needs of these increasing populations. It is our belief that this will be handled through many more
smart city projects. Around the world today there are smart city projects taking place in India, Germany, United States,
and even Mexico. Medellin, which two decades ago was a drug cartel capital of the western hemisphere, is now one of
the forefront leaders in innovation thanks to a very successful smart city project.
With examples such as these to show the huge potential of smart city projects, the possibilities for innovation in the
future are endless. However, in a realistic sense, we project that the number of smart city projects will, at the very
minimum, double between now and 2025. The biggest limitation in this scenario is funding, but as more smart city
projects become successful, investors everywhere will see the positive potential and necessity for these projects and will
be much more likely to put an investment at risk for a large contribution to society, and most likely a large return. Smart
cities have the capability to change the way we live, and we hope that ourselves and our children can reap the benefits
that they can provide.