Patricia Gurda
Written Communications
Ms. Marisa Wang
March 18, 2021
Smart cities: technology-driven communities
A smart city installs sensors to collect data that people and systems use to manage resources and
improve city services (Martinson, 2021). For example, a smart city might use technology to reduce
energy consumption and pollution, ease traffic congestion, and attract investment. The goal is to
provide a higher quality of life for citizens.
In the United States, about 80 percent of the population lives in cities, while about 50 percent of people
worldwide live in urban centers (Kaya, 2020). Because cities are a major engine of economic growth,
their future matters to businesses of all types. Today, their future looks to be smart.
The concept of the smart city came to public attention in the early 2000s. Since then, cities have rolled
out smart initiatives in three distinct phases. Some cities remain in the first phase, while others have
progressed to the other two (Burns, 2020).
Smart cities 1.0 – Technology companies present systems to city planners and developers as solutions
for urban problems. The solutions connect buildings, roads, and devices to increase efficiency, especially
through savings in transportation and energy consumption. However, these technology-driven
innovations omit citizen participation.
Smart cities 2.0 – In this phase, city planners take the lead to determine how technology can improve
quality of life. For example, the city of Columbus, Ohio, worked with a power company to create stations
for charging electric vehicles. The city’s goal was to create insentives for people to buy and use electric
Commented [MW1]: Can you provide an example of a city in
the first generation?
