Smart Cities, Urban Sustainability and Climate Change: A Conceptual Review

Abstract

Smart cities are potent instruments to mitigate climate change and foster urban sustainability. This is because smart cities exploit the benefits of advanced technologies and “Internet of Things” (IoT), which makes varieties of information available on issues, thereby easing strategies for tackling them. It therefore, becomes possible to make informed and precise choices that enact change to sustainably enhance survival. The aim of this article is to provide a conceptual evaluation on the implementation of smart cities in solving global climate change and urban sustainability concerns. This paper concludes that, even though smart cities can take major local intervention on climate change and urban sustainability, they will continue to depend on domestic governments to invest in critical infrastructure including defence, power, water supply, communications, and fast transit. Smart cities also need the private sector, through transparent and responsible taxation, to improve their attractiveness, generate wealth and jobs, and boost municipal finance resources.