Smart Cities—A Vision of the Future or the Present? - Technology Management for Sustainable Production and Logistics - page 122

The urbanization growth will result from other phenomenon—the so-called
arising smart cities or cities of the future. According to A. Caragliu from Milan
University of Technology a smart city may be defined as the one where invest-
ments in the human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern
(based on telecommunication and information technologies) infrastructure power
sustainable economic growth and build a high quality of life together with wise
human resources management through participatory governance (Caragliu
et al. 2014 ) (Fig. 3 ). One of the main conditions for development of smart cit-
ies is cooperation of self-government bodies with a wide range of entities from
their environment affecting the way the city operates. These are all types of social
organizations, social initiatives or activists.
According to Frost & Sullivan analysts, development of cities of the future
involves new technologies used for development of urban logistics. Cities are
differentiated from each other by a different structure of spatial development,
infrastructural solutions or the location. That is why each city has a possibility
of adjusting services offered by logistic companies to its needs and expectations
which reduces the risk occurring at the stage of goods distribution.
The concept of smart cities assumes involving inhabitants thanks to an easier
access to information and arranging dialogues and social consultations to enable
inhabitants put forward their ideas or notify problems. In this context it is impor-
tant that all people living in the metropolis have a wide access to the internet.
The nature of future cities makes inhabitants become main designers of solu-
tions whereas the administration will support the completion of projects.
An interesting vision was presented in 2010 by Tim O'Reilly, founder of
O'Reilly Media, a supporter of a free access to software and means of communi-
cation. According to him the government as a collection of public units functions
on the basis of an open platform. This platform creates an appropriate environment
Fig. 3 Sample technological solutions in cities ( 2012 - 2017 )