The Role of Smart City Characteristics in the Plans of Fifteen Cities

This paper identifies the characteristics of smart cities as they emerge from the recent literature. It then examines whether and in what way these characteristics are present in the smart city plans of 15 cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, PlanIT Valley, Stockholm, Cyberjaya, Singapore, King Abdullah Economic City, Masdar, Skolkovo, Songdo, Chicago, New York, Rio de Janeiro, and Konza. The results are presented with respect to each smart city characteristic. As expected, most strategies emphasize the role of information and communication technologies in improving the functionality of urban systems and advancing knowledge transfer and innovation networks. However, this research yields other interesting findings that may not yet have been documented across multiple case studies; for example, most smart city strategies fail to incorporate bottom-up approaches, are poorly adapted to accommodate the local needs of their area, and consider issues of privacy and security inadequately.