A typology analysis of smart city projects around the world

Abstract

National and local governments have made climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies a priority. New technologies have allowed cities to decrease their ecological footprint while maintaining economic operations. This chapter aims to conduct a typology analysis of smart city initiatives and identify implemented solutions to improve good governance and sustainable management of the transportation, water, and energy sectors. We developed a global database of 50 smart city projects and used descriptive analysis to describe them. We gathered information about the projects’ size, ownership, geographic focus, smart city solution type, dimension, and the relationship with climate change. The four key directions of smart transportation projects are promoting sustainable travel behavior, smart parking management, public transit development, and active and low-carbon transportation development. The four key directions of smart governance projects are promoting participation, public services, and openness. Some smart city initiatives use smart lighting, low-carbon building materials, and electric vehicles (EVs) to save energy. Finally, smart cities have prioritized water resource management, intelligently establishing initiatives to manage water supply systems, consumption, and wastewater disposal. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.