It starts with people, not technologies, smartness is not just about installing digital interfaces in traditional infrastructure or streamlining city operations. It is also about using technology and data purposefully to make better decisions and deliver a better quality of life.

Quality of life has many dimensions, it starts with how safe residents feel walking the streets. Cities that use smart technologies results into lives saved, fewer crime incidents, shorter commutes, a reduced health burden, and carbon emissions averted. 

Smart cities put data and digital technology to work to make better decisions and improve many aspects life. More comprehensive, real-time analytics gives the ability to watch events as they unfold, understand how demand patterns are changing, and respond with faster and lower-cost.

To make a smart city hum, the technology is a base layer, which includes a critical mass of video camera feeds, sensors connected by high-speed communication networks. The critical part is translating raw data into alerts, insight, and action requires the right tools, and this is where technology providers and analytics come in. The outcomes are usage by cities, companies,and the public. Many applications succeed only if they are widely adopted and manage to influence the users and encourage people to use transit during off-hours, to change routes, to use less energy and water and to do so at different times of day, and to reduce strains on the healthcare system through preventive self-care.

Smart cities use data and technology to make better decisions, more efficient, responsive, that delivers better outcomes for the people who call it home

The untapped benefits of analytics are substantial, how smart-city applications could affect various quality-of-life dimensions:safety, time and convenience, health, environmental quality, social connectedness and civic participation, jobs, and the cost of living. The wide range of outcomes reflects the fact that applications perform differently from city to city, depending on factors such as legacy systems and on base line starting points.