ABSTRACT
The ‘smart city’ has become such a loaded concept in policy discourses, academic papers, and industry reports, that it is difficult to provide an agreed upon definition. The ‘smart city’ holds on to an ideal urban future which has rapidly become significant in policy and industry parlance, something more than its cables, sensors, and servers, or a combination of these. The prehistory of the ‘smart city’ starts with the early attempts to integrate digital computer technologies in the life of cities, and thus managing the latter with the aid of the former. System thinking is at the roots of urban science, an interdisciplinary approach that uses statistical analysis and data analytics, including spatial statistics, remote sensing, data mining, simulation-based modelling, volunteered geographic information, cell phone data, machine learning, visual analytics, and simulation. Algorithm-led processes and technologies at the heart of the ‘smart city’ matter enormously.
