Social Sustainability
Smart City
Definition
A smart city uses digital technologies — sensors, connectivity, data platforms, AI — to manage urban systems and services more efficiently: transport, energy, water, waste, lighting, public safety and administration. Done well, smart city tools cut energy and water use, smooth traffic, and improve service responsiveness; done badly, they create surveillance infrastructure, vendor lock-in and digital divides without touching sustainability outcomes.
References
This reference provides supporting context for how “Smart City” is defined and used.
Source imported for editorial provenance.
Overview
How it is used
The concept structures urban digital strategies, EU smart city programmes, ISO city indicator standards, and debates on data governance, privacy and algorithmic accountability in cities.
Why it matters
Cities will be digital as well as physical infrastructure; whether smartness serves sustainability or merely efficiency is a governance choice being made now.