What is behind the term smart city?

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There is no generally valid definition of the term “smart city.” Rather, it is a collective term for concepts that deal with the efficient, social and sustainable development of processes within the city. Digitalization supports the adjustment of processes. The aim of a smart city should be to integrate efficient, social and sustainable developments into all areas of life.

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Smart city approaches and concepts

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There are many different approaches to shaping the transformation to a smart city. Many cities focus on the topics: mobility and transport, intelligent connectivity and energy efficiency. Within the subject areas, there are various focal points, depending on the individual assessment of the city, which approaches offer the most added value for citizens

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• Mobility/traffic: Smart approaches help to solve the various mobility challenges faced by cities, such as lack of parking spaces, traffic jams or particulate matter. Car sharing, for example, reduces the need for individual cars by renting freely available cars for a short time and thus relieves the burden on city centers. In addition, there is the option to optimize traffic through intelligent systems. Here, smart traffic light systems can flexibly adapt the red phases or green phases to the appropriate situation and massively improve traffic flow. But cities also identify stationary traffic as a relevant issue, because here the available space can be used even more efficiently to provide a positive parking experience. Existing approaches to make stationary traffic more efficient include barrier-free parking as well as the connection with shared mobility offers or charging stations for e-cars.
  

• Communication: Within cities, 2 types of communication are particularly relevant. On the one hand, it is important to enable communication between different technical systems and to make it proactive. On the other hand, it is communication with citizens themselves that shapes a city. Intelligent traffic light switching is a good example of communication between technical systems, because sensors can be used to record information about the environment and make appropriate adjustments to the traffic flow. Communication between citizens and the city will change as a result of digitization, for example through new online portals to simplify communication for citizens and at the same time save administrative costs.

• energy efficiency: The topic of sustainability is highly relevant for cities. This includes the responsible use of resources, for example with regard to a city's energy consumption. One concept to reduce energy consumption concerns street lighting, for example. By installing solar lanterns, renewable energy can be used and resources can thus be saved. In addition, intelligent lantern control, which recognizes approaching pedestrians, cyclists or vehicles, can illuminate paths more strongly accordingly. Otherwise, the light is dimmed to save electricity on the one hand and to minimize the impact on residents and animals on the other.
  

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Benefits of a smart city

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Smart city concepts help cities meet new and existing requirements in order to offer residents a high quality of life. In addition to the positive effects for the environment and residents, the city benefits from more efficient processes in various areas, such as through more efficient use of parking spaces or through simplified administrative processes.

_{Image source:
Yolanda Sun}‍