Connected, Sustainable, and Participatory: The Starting Point of Next-Generation Smart Cities
While the world’s urbanization rate was below 30% in 1950, according to United Nations projections, this rate will exceed 70% by 2050. This dramatic increase signifies not only the proliferation of physical structures but also radical transformations in lifestyles, economic activities, environmental impacts, and governance models. As cities expand, the smart planning of essential services such as housing, transportation, energy, water, education, healthcare, and security becomes increasingly critical. Emerging from this necessity, the concept of the “smart city” is no longer merely a technological vision but a new urban paradigm shaped by sustainability, inclusiveness, and resilience.
What Is a Smart City? From Concept to Systematic Approach
A smart city is not simply an infrastructure model equipped with technological solutions. Fundamentally, it aims to enhance urban life through the integration of digital technologies such as data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and big data to create more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable cities. However, this definition has evolved over time, expanding beyond technical dimensions to encompass social and governance-oriented perspectives.
The term “smart city” first gained prominence in the late 1990s alongside technology companies’ digital city visions. IBM’s “Smarter Planet” initiative, launched in 2008, marked one of the key turning points that brought global visibility to the concept. Yet, this early phase was largely confined to technological systems and software solutions. The idea that cities could only become more livable through the integration of not just technology but also social and environmental awareness gained momentum in the mid-2010s.
In the 2025 UNDP report titled “Responsible Smart Cities Toolkit,” the concept is defined within a framework of human-centered, inclusive, and ethical digital transformation. This approach aims not only to build more efficient systems but also to ensure that these systems function transparently, accessibly, and responsibly for all. Within this framework, data collection methods, citizen consent, data privacy, and algorithmic fairness have become central to smart city planning.
Over time, this understanding has become institutionalized; since 2021, various national and local initiatives — including those involving Turkish stakeholders — have begun to establish a foundation for it. Reports from TÜSİAD, KOTRA, and KPMG from that period reveal that the issue was previously addressed mainly from a technological and infrastructural perspective, offering valuable opportunities to analyze how today’s approaches differ from the past. For instance, according to the UN World Smart Cities Outlook 2024, smart cities are now recognized not merely as a sum of digital solutions but as holistic systems redefined by principles of social inclusion, climate resilience, and transparency in governance.
Shifting Priorities: From Technology to Impact
According to Guidehouse Insights’ 2024 market forecast, annual investment in smart city technologies is projected to reach $300 billion by 2032. More than 70% of these investments are expected to target essential service areas such as transportation infrastructure, energy efficiency, digital healthcare, and smart water systems. However, this growth also raises significant ethical and social questions — the focus is no longer solely on investment but on its social impact.
The digitalization of urban services is not just about efficiency and automation. Increasingly, questions arise about whom these systems serve, how accessible they are, and what social justice goals they support. Issues such as data accessibility, digital inclusion, and ensuring that elderly and disabled individuals are not excluded from digital systems are now integral to the performance metrics of smart cities.
Smart cities also form the core of resilience against the climate crisis. As emphasized in the UNDP Toolkit and ASO Working Papers, technologies such as AI, IoT, and digital twin applications are used in every field — from disaster management systems to smart energy grids, green infrastructure planning, and environmental sensor technologies — to make cities more resilient. These technologies enable early prediction of extreme weather events, faster activation of emergency response systems, and more balanced energy management.
Furthermore, data management and ethical digital infrastructures are among the key themes highlighted in UNDP and UN-Habitat documents from 2025. Particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, e-identity systems, open data portals, and participatory digital platforms provide exemplary models for the world. The participatory governance frameworks developed in these regions enable citizens to engage directly in decision-making processes through digital tools, creating structures focused on transparency.
Similarly, in the UN-Habitat Smart Cities Training Workshop (2025), pilot projects in the Asia-Pacific region focusing on urban planning, resource management, and infrastructure systems draw attention. In these cases, digitalization meets locally responsive and socially sensitive solutions to urban challenges.
From Local to Global: The Transformation of Smart Cities
Since 2021, smart cities have been approached within a more strategic framework in Turkey as well. The 2024 study by the Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO) highlights the need to integrate energy, transportation, waste management, and Industry 4.0 applications with smart city strategies. The report emphasizes that, beyond frequent investments such as smart transportation systems, city cameras, and energy monitoring infrastructures, socio-economic sensitivity must also be incorporated into urban policies.
Funding models are also evolving, with EU-supported funds, public-private partnerships, and carbon credit mechanisms becoming more common. In particular, financing aligned with climate goals and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria is considered crucial for ensuring the long-term sustainability of smart city investments.
In the UN-Habitat Smart Cities Outlook 2024, cities are compared globally using criteria such as digital infrastructure scoring and climate vulnerability. Cities like Singapore, Copenhagen, and Seoul stand out with their digital infrastructure and climate resilience scores, while cases in Africa and Latin America focus more on social inclusion and energy access. This comparison shows how geographical and socio-economic contexts directly influence smart city strategies.
Recent UNDP and UN-Habitat documents also emphasize strengthening governance structures at the urban level. This means not only the digitalization of municipal services but also data-driven decision-making, citizen feedback, and multi-stakeholder strategic collaboration in urban planning.
Today, smart cities are not merely a vision of a digital future but an interface for designing urban systems grounded in social justice, sustainability, and resilience. The success of smart cities is no longer measured by the amount of technological investment, but by the social impact capacity of these technologies.
What Will the Future of the Smart City Vision Be?
From development agencies to local governments, architectural firms to industrial representatives — this is the shared question of all stakeholders. The emerging picture reveals a clear reality: Smart cities are not the topic of the future, but of today. Decisions made now — in areas such as technology, data, inclusivity, resilience, and participation — will shape the livability of tomorrow.