Characterising smart cities: form, function and features
Date
2019
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Global urbanization trends have continued to skyrocket the past several decades and are projected to continue. More than ever before, more people are electing to live in cities which poses unprecedented challenges for city stakeholders in addressing the quality of life of city inhabitants. Frameworks for a sustainable city development is needed to address the many challenges cities around the world are facing today. Smart City initiatives have emerged as an alternative means to tackle sustainable city development challenges. Due to the nature of smart city objectives being highly local and even regional, different cities require different “smart” solutions. These differences make it difficult to set a singular definition of what a “smart” city is. This thesis seeks to record the progression of smart city definitions over time and to offer a working definition towards a universal definition of smart cities. In addition, the data analysis portion of this work seeks will examine the relationships between several smart city factors and their significance in reducing city generated greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, this research will quantify the extent by which these smart city factors effectively achieve the goals of smart cities. The findings of this research can be used by city stakeholders as a guide to prioritize smart city initiatives and efficiently allocate city resources in the most effective ways possible.