4 models for smart cities

Source : GCN Posted: Oct 07, 2019

To help urban planners identify ways to best support smart city development, researchers analyzed plans from 60 municipal smart-city across the globe and have identified four basic types.

"The term 'smart city' remains more of a buzzword than a clearly articulated program of action," said Krishna Jayakar, professor of telecommunications, Penn State  "Smart cities are those that use new information and communication technologies to solve pressing problems -- such as housing, transportation, and energy -- in urban planning and governance."

Jayakar's team's research used cluster analysis to identify four smart city models by looking at programs that have been implemented. The objective was to identify the combinations of projects most often deployed together as a way to define common archetypes or models in smart city development.  

The essential services model characterizes cities by their use of mobile networks in emergency management and health-care services. Cities like Tokyo and Copenhagen already have mature communication infrastructures and have invested in a few, well-chosen programs.

Read more here.