Smart cities have moved beyond being a buzzword or an abstract theme. With increased urbanization in the developing world and a desperate need to renew urban infrastructure in the developed world — and with 60% of the global population expected to live in cities by 2050 — smart city technology spending reached $80 billion in 2016, and is expected to nearly double by 2021 according to IDC.
Cities are digitally transforming to make urban life easier, from transit availability to public safety to environmental concerns. "Smart cities have recently evolved from a collection of discrete flagship projects to a sizeable market opportunity that will drive significant technology investments in 2018 and beyond," said Serena Da Rold, program manager in IDC's customer insights and analysis group.
The term "smart cities" was coined by IBM, but the idea has since come to represent an ecosystem of technologies and strategies aimed at helping cities and companies leverage data to improve operational performance in many sectors. IDC defines it as "the use of smart initiatives combined to leverage technology investments across an entire city, with common platforms increasing efficiency, data being shared across systems, and IT investments tied to smart missions."
So what exactly is a smart city, how does it function and what impact does it have on residents living and working within its borders?
The ultimate goal of a smart city initiative is to attract businesses and citizens to ensure a vibrant city economy. Smart cities utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) to achieve sustainable economic development and quality-of-life improvements. IoT refers to devices connected to the internet to transmit data and according to industry experts, by 2020, 10 billion+ new devices and connections will be added to the internet. This will increase the amount of IoT devices and connections to over 26.3 billion.