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So, what makes a smart city? A basic definition is that it is an improvement of urban environments using technologies that work together to do so. Connecting Cambridgeshire, which is ‘working to ensure businesses, residents and public services can make the most of opportunities offered by a fast-changing digital world’ breaks the areas of improvement down to four categories:

1. Transport: making travel easier, reducing congestion, and exploring intelligent mobility
2. Environment: managing our water, energy, air quality and waste
3. Healthcare: catering for an ageing population and providing public health
4. Smart living: improving the quality of life for communities in and around the city.

Artur Perchel, the UITP’s Manager – Central Eastern Europe and Israel, describes the benefits of smart cities as “intelligent urban solutions [that] help not only to manage daily problems and make cities more competitive, but also to advance the quality of urban life.”

In regards to smart cities and transport, he goes on to say: “Optimising and integrating virtually all urban operations and services, smart cities have become a key notion of many urban decision-makers and their respective development agendas.”