ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on investigating and revealing the interplay between smart urban technologies and city development. It introduces the role of technology played in our civilisation from the Ice Age up to the end of the twentieth century. The book also focuses on the following periods: the pre-industrial era, including the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment; the industrial era, and the post-industrial era. It then assesses the role and importance of most prominent smart urban information technologies. The book demonstrates how these technologies are used in various smart urban systems. Finally, the book discusses the magnitudes and prospects of smart technologies and systems for our cities and societies. It also deals with magnitudes of smart technology applications for cities from four different perspectives, namely: economic development, sociocultural development, spatial development and institutional development.
