ABSTRACT
The emerging prototype for a Smart City is one of an urban environment with a new generation of innovative services for transportation, energy distribution, healthcare, environmental monitoring, business, commerce, emergency response, and social activities. Enabling the technology for such a setting requires a viewpoint of Smart Cities as cyber-physical systems (CPSs) that include new software platforms and strict requirements for mobility, security, safety, privacy, and the processing of massive amounts of information. This paper identifies some key defining characteristics of a Smart City, discusses some lessons learned from viewing them as CPSs, and outlines some fundamental research issues that remain largely open.
1. Introduction
As of 2014, 54% of the earth’s population resides in urban areas, a percentage expected to reach 66% by 2050. This increase would amount to 2.5 billion people added to urban populations [1]. At the same time, there are now 28 megacities (each with 10 million people or more) worldwide, home to 453 million people or about 12% of the world’s urban population. Projections indicate more than 41 megacities by 2030. It stands to reason that the management and sustainability of urban areas have become one of the most critical challenges our society faces today. Consequently, cities are looking for ways that ensure a sustainable, comfortable, and economically viable future for their citizens by becoming “smart.”
