2021 Articles and Reports

Best Practices for Sustainable Smart Cities

Bajpai, Nirupam; Biberman, John

The share of the world’s population living in urban areas is continually increasing, a trend which is likely to continue for the remainder of the 21st century. As more and more people from all walk of life live in cities, achieving sustainable development increasingly depends on whether or not cities themselves can be made more sustainable. In service of this cause, new advances in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) have put “smart cities” closer within reach than ever before. Smart cities incorporate a variety of digital and automated solutions to make urban environments more livable and responsive to the needs of their residents, in fields ranging from transportation to waste management to public institutions themselves. As digital tools become more integrated into urban infrastructure, and inhabitants use more and more digital technology, especially mobile technology, in their everyday lives, smart cities will increasingly be able to dynamically adapt services to demand, improving quality of life while making resource use more efficient. However, sustainability also implies institutional trust. As user- generated data becomes more and more integral to the functioning of smart cities, planners will need to be highly collaborative and transparent around what data is used and in what fashion so that residents can rest assured that this crucial access to their personal information is not abused.