Topic: smart-city-strategy

When talking about smart cities, the African continent is often neglected. But there are many important developments there that can inspire future cities on other continents. For example, Dubai-based architecture firm Urb has unveiled a new design for a smart, self-sufficing city in South Africa called The Parks.

The evolution of smart cities has shifted from technology-centered approaches via government-led strategies to a human-centric focus. We have discussed this recently in our article Towards a new paradigm of the smart city.

Considering the benefits of a human-centric approach, the question is how a city can tap into the collective intelligence of citizens, entrepreneurs, businesses or other organizations to accelerate the development of a more livable and prosperous city. Collective intelligence can be considered as a key success factor for a smart city (see A review of becoming a smart city).