Smart Cities and Connected Intelligence is about digital and cyber-physical platforms that enable people, institutions and machines to connect, collaborate and resolve complex problems of the 21st century. Internet and world-wide-web platforms, big data analytics, software applications, social media and civic technologies, allow for the creation of smart ecosystems in which connected intelligence emerges and disruptive, social, and eco-innovation flourish.
The focus of the book is on three grand challenges that matter for any territory, no matter where it is located: (a) smart growth, a path that more and more cities and regions adopt, having realised the unlimited potential of growth that is based on innovation and digital technologies; (b) safety and security, in a world of intense social, natural and technological threats; and (c) environmental sustainability, use of renewable energy, protection of living ecosystems, addressing climate change and global warming, in a period of rapid urbanisation that makes established sustainability models and planning obsolete.
The core argument is that problem-solving and novel solutions to these grand challenges emerge in smart ecosystems through connected intelligence. It is the wider form of intelligence that combines capabilities from heterogeneous actors (humans, organisations, machines) and propel problem-solving through resource agglomeration, user engagement and collaboration, awareness and behaviour change.
Komninos, N. (2020). Smart Cities and Connected Intelligence: Platforms, ecosystems and network effects.
Routledge. Series: Regions and Cities at Routledge