What is a smart city?

The concept of a
smart city is not new, and several countries
from Japan to Holland to Israel have
developed smart cities, and each has tuned
and tweaked this concept to its
requirements. The global market of smart
cities will reach around $42.7 trillion by
2030. But broadly, most countries have tried
to build these smart cities by following key
parameters: information and communication
technology (ICT) based governance, transit-
oriented development, waste management,
energy efficiency and management, water
management and safety and security. These
cities would ideally have a centralised
control system which would provide real-
time inputs on the availability of resources
and public utilities to enable faster and more
efficient decision-making. Another feature of
smart cities is intelligent communication,
which enables the administrators to respond
with a very negligible turnaround time in
case of an emergency.