Anatomy of a smart city - SmartPlanet

A comprehensive analysis from Forrester Research explores the role the information and communications technology (ICT) will play in creating the foundation for smart cities — whether those cities are newer communities being built from scratch or centuries-old metropolises. The report, “Getting Clever About Smart Cities: New Opportunities Require New Business Models,” suggests that new management approaches will be required to manage urban areas, as the population in those areas grows by an anticipated 2.3 billion over the next 40 years. That data (which comes from the United Nations) suggests that 70 percent of the world’s total population will live in cities and surrounding regions by 2050. According to Forrester, a smart city is one that “uses information and communications technologies to make the critical infrastructure components and services of a city — administration, education, healthcare, public safety, real estate, transportation and utilities — more aware, interactive and efficient.”