Blending Human Ware with Software and Hardware in the Design of Smart Cities

Abstract

Sustainable innovation entails realizing society-oriented value creation in an environment-friendly manner. A smart city can be viewed as a holistic paradigm that avails of state-of-the-art information and communication technologies (ICTs, in other words) to advance the so-called “Internet of Things.” This aids the management of urban processes and improves the quality of life for the citizens. Smart cities are bound to keep getting “smarter” as the ICTs keep developing. While the technological factor represented by the IoT, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, urban digital twinning, cloud computing, and mobile Internet is a driving factor unarguably, innovation in urban ecology is a vital socio-economic factor that will spur the transformation of urban areas in the world to smart cities. In this chapter, the authors answer the “what,” how, and “who,” so to say, of the paradigm—smart cities—with real-life examples and a case study. They emphasize the importance of human ware and remind readers that technology—the all-encompassing Internet of Things with its infantry of cameras, sensors, and electronic devices—though powerful, is a humble servant in the service of the inhabitants of a smart city.