Smart cities: Advances in research—An information systems perspective

Abstract

Smart cities employ information and communication technologies to improve: the quality of life for its citizens, the local economy, transport, traffic management, environment, and interaction with government. Due to the relevance of smart cities (also referred using other related terms such as Digital City, Information City, Intelligent City, Knowledge-based City, Ubiquitous City, Wired City) to various stakeholders and the benefits and challenges associated with its implementation, the concept of smart cities has attracted significant attention from researchers within multiple fields, including information systems. This study provides a valuable synthesis of the relevant literature by analysing and discussing the key findings from existing research on issues related to smart cities from an Information Systems perspective. The research analysed and discussed in this study focuses on number of aspects of smart cities: smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart citizens, smart government, and smart architecture as well as related technologies and concepts. The discussion also focusses on the alignment of smart cities with the UN sustainable development goals. This comprehensive review offers critical insight to the key underlying research themes within smart cities, highlighting the limitations of current developments and potential future directions.