The pervasive nature of digital technology means that cities are constantly evolving to meet the changing needs of everyday life. The term ‘smart city’ was adopted in the early 2010s to describe the increasing use of technology and data to inform decision making for governing cities.
This report, produced by Future Cities Catapult and Arup, explores the landscape of smart city strategies and aims to provide insight into how cities around the world are approaching the smart city agenda. The review enables us to build a richer knowledge base for cities and shed light on the principles and patterns seen in smart city strategies across the globe. Twenty-one cities of varying geography, population and stage of existing smart city strategy were studied, including New York, Berlin, São Paulo and Manchester.
Research is structured around the evolution of the smart city, the ambitions of smart city strategies and how they are developed, how smart city strategies are planned, governed and delivered, the challenges to implementation, and recommendations based on emerging best practice.
Findings will help city leaders better understand challenges they may face on their smart city journey, and equip them with the knowledge they will need to deliver a smart city projects.