Meanwhile there are worldwide activities to build up smart cities. Just to mention some examples, from Singapore to Barcelona, Malmö in Sweden, Lyon, Vienna up to Hamburg, Berlin and Munich there are initiatives to become a smart city. There is no common definition of a smart city. But all these initiatives have some keywords in common: connectivity, digital solutions, conservation of resources, efficient and intelligent mobility solutions, energy efficiency as well as the statement to become more green and to improve livability.
But what is meant by smart city? Smart City means to build up the city of the future especially by using technology. In this context some trends play an important role. One of nowadays trends is the so called urbanization. More and more people want to live in the already big cities. Those people require affordable housing in limited areas, a guaranteed supply of all goods and services needed, an excellent infrastructure regarding mobility but also regarding telecommunications.
There are more and more cars on the streets of these cities, more traffic jams, more environmental pollution due to a rising number of people in the city and also in Europe the rising e-commerce leads to a higher number of suppliers and less available parking spaces. The demographic change is another trend. We get older and our needs, e.g. regarding mobility solutions and health care change. And also the younger generation has different needs regarding mobility solutions and especially regarding the telecommunications infrastructure than older generations, not least due to the fact that nowadays a lot of technologies are available that we didn’t have few years ago.
The climate change has led amongst others to a rising use of renewable energies and measurements to conserve resources, above all to save energy. Worldwide there are innovations to use e-mobility in cars, motorcycles and bicycles.
Another global trend is the digitalization. The digitalization is t h e enabler for a lot of applications, business models and also for a smart city. Meanwhile there are smart home applications to monitor the own energy consumption, car sharing that replaces the own car or services via the internet offered by public authorities.
One of the biggest challenges on the way to build up a smart city is to take the right steps. The citizens have to be informed, have to be involved in an early stage, have to be asked about their habits and requirements and have to participate in the development of solutions.
In this way the opportunities of a smart city can be taken, e.g. an increase in energy efficiency, an improved digital communication, an optimized and individualized mobility concept.
The existing need for action can be identified, e.g. legal aspects, and topics like data security can be discussed in an easier way. At the same time risks can be reduced, e.g. to avoid that applications are developed that will not be accepted by the potential customer and thus will not be used.
There are a lot of potentials for the companies by offering individualized products and services, a further development and use of new technologies and applications and by the development of new business models.
In summary it can be stated that smart cities are not only a trend. Due to several trends like urbanization, demographic change and climate change it is a necessity to use technologies and to build up smart cities that offer a lot of solutions and possibilities regarding the infrastructure, the individual lifestyle, the individual mobility requirements, the conservation of our resources and the climate protection. This requires an early involvement of the citizens as well as of companies and the sciences. Especially for companies there are a lot of potentials in different areas to develop new business models, to optimize e.g. the logistics and to offer more individualized products and services.
This article is to give an impulse to deal with the topic smart city. Further articles will follow. Dr. Monika Bauch – Management Consulting offers to collaborate with companies to develop concepts and solutions and to adapt e.g. existing logistics concepts to the requirements of a smart city. Please get in contact via an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .