Urban performance is no longer just dependant on a city’s hard infrastructure – its ‘physical capital’ – but increasingly on the availability and quality of communication and social resources.
The concept of a ‘smart city’ is now being used to describe modern urban competitiveness and highlight the growing importance of social and environmental capital in profiling the attractiveness of a city.
Certain enablers play a key role in this debate, such as information and communication technologies (ICTs) and a move towards an efficient use and consumption of energy.
We are working to integrate different aspects of the current debate. In our view, a smart city must be a good place to live, offering the best possible quality of life with the lowest possible use of resources.
Our work supports developments towards a healthy, energy-efficient city that uses renewable energy sources as much as possible, and is a pioneer in the deployment of advanced smart and ICT-based technologies.
A smart city is also an inclusive place, using technology and innovative solutions to improve social inclusion and combat poverty and deprivation.
Source: smart cities
