A “Smart City” is a city that takes advantage of modern and intelligent technologies and innovations to increase the efficiency of service delivery and to modernize the city management to meet the lifestyles of people in the new era, who use more technology in their daily lives. When considering the criteria for developing a smart city, there are five important criteria to follow:

1. To clearly define the area and goals that will drive the smart city in any form. It will be a city with 100% innovation or a city focusing on green environment or safety, etc.;

2. To develop urban infrastructure by planning the infrastructure, bringing the necessary utilities, systems, and technologies together;

3. To provide a secure system for collecting and managing city data, which is not only data on the number of people, or economic growth numbers, but also information on the lives of people in the city, which can show changes in various areas;

4. To provide Smart City services based on seven characteristics: Smart Environment, Smart Energy, Smart Economy, Smart Living, Smart Governance, Smart People, and Smart Mobility.

5. To manage sustainability, which does not rely solely on government budgets, but allows non-governmental parties to manage and support sustainability.

       According to the above criteria, it is expected that each city will make outstanding developments in its chosen areas; for example, smart environmental cities may have good ecological management, increasing green areas and becoming low-carbon cities, with no dirty waste causing pollution, because the management system or intelligent government services have a single interface system linking with various agencies. As a result, residents in the area, or tourists who come to visit, will experience an easier life in a pleasant environment, without dust, smoke, or pollution to disturb their health.

       However, a Smart City's success does not only come from the use of modern technology but also requires cooperation from many parties to drive the creation of a “co-living” society. The Smart City experience will enable us to think more clearly about what cities will be like in the future.

Source: Digital Economy Promotion Agency
Tel: +66 2026 2333