Preface

Today, urban areas are inhabited by more than half of the world's population. More than 70% of worldwide carbon emissions and 60%–80% of energy usage take place in metropolitan areas, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Governments and municipalities may create more intelligent, sustainable cities using ICTs and other technology. To address current and future generations' economic, social, environmental, and cultural demands, a municipality must be innovative and use ICT to boost living standards, city performance and services, and competitiveness. Although there is not yet a city where every system and function are linked together, many are well on the way to becoming intelligent, sustainable cities. They utilize technology to reduce energy consumption and waste, increase traffic safety, monitor air quality, report crimes in progress to police, and upgrade water and sewage systems, to name a few examples. Many ICT-based applications and services rely on a stable, secure, dependable, and interoperable telecommunications infrastructure, which is essential for smart, sustainable cities.

The IoT is a rapidly growing network of computing devices with built-in sensors and software that can connect and share data, allowing billions of devices and objects with smart sensors to connect, collect information in real-time, and wirelessly communicate this data to a centralized control system. These networked control centers oversee traffic flow, reduce energy use, and enhance a wide range of municipal services. Computational analysis of massive data sets is made possible by AI, revealing patterns that may be utilized to inform and improve municipal decisionmaking. For example, electricity networks called "smart grids" employ digital communication technology to monitor and react to fluctuations in local electricity usage, allowing for more efficient use of electricity and a reduced environmental impact. Users have more say over their energy consumption with the help of IoT devices like smart meters and sensors that report back to energy providers on consumer energy habits. Thoughtful city planning, predictive maintenance of city services, real-time monitoring, decision-making, and optimization of emerging technologies across different industries like AI, the IoT, and others are all made easier with the help of digital twins, which employ virtual and augmented reality to do the same. When compared to the current 3G and 4G networks, which have issues supporting the variety of services needed for sustainable smart city applications, the rollout of 5G, the fifth generation of mobile technology in many countries, has the potential to connect more devices to the Internet, the possibility to transfer data faster, and the potential to process large amounts of data with minimal latency.

While no "smart" or "sustainable" communities are wholly wired for all municipal systems and services, many are well on their way. Some urban areas, for instance, use ICT to better manage their energy resources, garbage, housing stock, medical facilities, transportation networks, air quality, alert systems for criminality on the streets, and water and sewage systems. Improving the quality of life for people living in rural areas and helping to accomplish the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are both possible outcomes of rural community development that are both smart and sustainable.

one of the contributing authors for their hard work. In addition, I would like to thank Author Service Manager Ms. Martina Scerbe at IntechOpen for her assistance and

Department of Construction Engineering and Lighting Science,

Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences Construction Technology,

Faculty of Health, Natural Sciences, and Technology,

**Amjad Almusaed**

**Asaad Almssad**

 Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

 Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

professionalism during the publication process of this book.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) funds technical research and encourages continuing collaboration between governments, industry firms, and other stakeholders to boost the dependability, security, and interoperability of urban ICT infrastructure. The ITU is promoting information and communication technologies to improve the efficiency of services and living standards in metropolitan areas. Improving the quality of life for rural residents and contributing to the SDGs can be aided by, for instance, innovative construction and sustainable rural communities. Among the seventeen SDGs is SDG 11, which focuses on creating sustainable cities and neighborhoods. ICT can speed up the process of achieving this goal as well. SDG 11 emphasizes the need to develop environmentally friendly urban environments. The concept of a "Smart City" and the theories behind it have come a long way in recent years. This is in large part because so many branches of government are investigating the potential of "smart city" technologies. The United Nations, the European Union, and other federal ministries have also tackled the issue of urbanization to improve a city's quality of life via ICT and to satisfy present and future generations' economic, social, environmental, and cultural demands.

The book discusses the structure and operation of a sustainable smart city, a model for the next generation of urban areas. To maximize resource utilization efficiency, enhance urban management and services, and better the lives of its residents, "smart cities" implement various information technologies and novel ideas to integrate the system and services into the town. All facets of city life make use of the latest generation of information technology. It accomplishes the refined and dynamic management of urbanization, which helps reduce "big city illness," improve the quality of urbanization, increase the efficiency of urban governance, and better the lives of residents. These urban forms invest in human and social capital as well as transportation and information communication infrastructure, practice participatory management of these and natural resources for scientific management, all of which contribute to the city's ability to grow economically and socially sustainable and to provide its residents with a high quality of life.

This book presents the modern concept of a "sustainable smart city" based on smart management, smart human environment, and smart technologies of urban communications. It explores the vision, planning, and action strategy of a smart city. In addition, it presents practical examples of smart city building, detailed explanations of the elements influencing construction decisions, and the methods used to narrow those choices. Readers involved in building intelligent cities as well as government officials, company managers, scientific researchers, college lecturers, and students will find this book a useful resource. It includes thirteen chapters, each presenting a particular component, system, or technology essential to developing a next-generation smart city that can function without compromising its environmental or economic sustainability. Writing a book takes time and work, just like developing a construction concept does, and requires the cooperation of many individuals over a prolonged period. We must start by giving each other credit for our contributions to our joint venture. As such, I offer my deepest gratitude to every

one of the contributing authors for their hard work. In addition, I would like to thank Author Service Manager Ms. Martina Scerbe at IntechOpen for her assistance and professionalism during the publication process of this book.

#### **Amjad Almusaed**

Department of Construction Engineering and Lighting Science, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

#### **Asaad Almssad**

Faculty of Health, Natural Sciences, and Technology, Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences Construction Technology, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

**1**

Section 1

Smart Cities Models
