The role of infrastructure in Smart Cities

The idea of 'smart cities' was initially introduced by corporations to provide technological solutions to overcome contemporary challenges. The semantics for smart cities' lacks a coherent vision and the use of technology therein is currently under scrutiny for its 'liveability' qualities. Therefore, the conception (and then design) of infrastructure needs to focus on the philosophy of what is truly smart, necessitating the assessment of smartness of solutions in relation to liveable cities. As a result of the growing research base, there is an opportunity now to frame the role of infrastructure within the smart cities vision beyond the traditional meaning of the term – one that empowers infrastructure and offers opportunities for innovative outcomes related to openness, collaboration and delivery of smartness in cities. In this paper, smartness, as a holistic practice, is reflected through the initiatives that cities have adopted in order to become smart. It is, therefore, proposed that a smart dataset not only provides a benchmark for smart cities, but underpins a new set of criteria by which we can assess the efficacy of changes to urban systems and positively influence smart cities, leading to innovative solutions to current and future urban challenges.