ABSTRACT
Smart cities promise to generate economic, social and environmental value through the seamless connection of urban services and infrastructure by digital technologies. Smart cities promise nothing less than an urban utopia for the twenty-first century. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book investigates a smart grid experimentation and demonstration site in a residential neighbourhood in Austin, Texas. It highlights both the potential and pitfalls of digitally-enabled green urbanism. The book examines the installation of domestic gas and electricity smart meters across the UK. It explores the role of city governments in advancing sustainability via information communication technologies (ICT)-enabled sharing, focusing on the case studies of Berlin and London – two ICT-dense cities with clearly articulated smart city agendas and an abundance of sharing platforms. The book looks at how smart sustainability varies across different national contexts and how this influences the governance of cities.
