The Climate Change and Sustainable Development (CCSD) group Smart City Definition
The Smart City concept is complex and contested in the academic literature as well as in practice. After a review of existing definitions with various foci and purposes the CCSD group came up with the following definition for Smart Cities:
Cities are large, complex, dynamic and nature dependent artefacts that represent the living environment for a large and increasing number of people.
Smart Cities autonomously collect, process and analyze data, allowing urban systems to learn, adapt and strategically self-optimize towards a detailed vision.
The vision (e.g., the sustainable city, the efficient city, or the equal city) comprises a set of values for a desirable future city.
These values are often framed in terms of economic, environmental, and social sustainability, diversity, participatory governance, and quality of life. We recognize that there can be a disagreement over the vision and the values inherent therein. However, a technical system without a clear vision is meaningless, if not dangerous. Likewise, a vision that has no clear strategy for how to achieve it is only a wish list of utopian ideals. Therefore, our definition includes both the visionary aspect of the smart city and the technical means to achieve it.