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Building smart cities : analytics, ICT, and design thinking
Stimmel C., Auerbach Publications, Boston, MA, 2015. 290 pp. Type: Book (978-1-498702-76-8)
Date Reviewed: Aug 5 2016

Tremendous developments in various information and communication technologies (ICTs) are promising in redesigning urban environments to address a number of overwhelming problems including infrastructure growth, security, quality of life, resource allocation and management, sustainable environments, and mobility. These integrations of ICTs, along with the involvement of human and social capital, are leading the design of “smart cities.” This is critically important because of the concerning rapid growth of urban populations across the world. According to a United Nations report, in 2014, 54 percent of the world’s population was already living in urban areas; this will grow to 66 percent by 2050 [1]. This book effectively presents both technological and human-centric components and their intricacies for smart city design. The book is structured in four main sections. Part 1 focuses on how the design of smart cities will need to be influenced by actual human needs and user interactions. Part 2 reviews in detail the relevant technologies for different aspects of smart cities. Part 3 presents the data analytics, social inclusion, and security/privacy issues involved. Finally, Part 4 discusses the importance of proper understanding and design approaches for ensuring that smart cities achieve innovation within their ecosystems.

Part 1 consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the smart city and discusses the importance of its design being human-centric. Chapter 2 discusses the existence of both overly optimistic and pessimistic views of large adoption of technologies in urban environments. It also introduces the Internet of Things (IoT) and how the system in place for smart cities will mediate interaction among a huge number of connected entities (enabled by IoT). Chapter 3 discusses new and well-known models that can help establish smart cities’ design and workflow frameworks. Three terms are stressed in this regard: efficient, effective, and optimal. Chapter 4 discusses the philosophy and repeatable elements of design thinking. An analogy of the entire process of problem solving is presented with the following key components: question, hypothesis, prediction, experiment, and analysis. Then, design thinking is presented as a human-centered iterative process with the following phases: empathize, define (or interpret), ideate, prototype or model, and test. Finally, chapter 5 validates design thinking by providing examples of successful ICT solutions that are appropriate for and sensitive to specific application contexts.

Part 2 consists of three chapters. Chapter 6 presents the importance of a human-centered, solutions-oriented approach in planning and management (rather than a technology-centric planning approach) for resolving safety, regulatory, and social issues. Then, in chapter 7, the author focuses on some fundamentals of smart city infrastructure, including issues of energy efficiency, energy intensity, emission intensity, and resource infrastructure for energy and water. Chapter 8 investigates varied components and issues in advanced transportation management, including pollution, telematics, traffic flow congestion, access to social services, and public safety.

Part 3 consists of three chapters. Chapter 9 focuses on a range of advanced data analytics for smart cities. Data analytical modeling is classified into the following categories: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive. Then, human, scalability, platform, and service aspects of smart cities data analytics are discussed. Chapter 10 focuses on the role of technologies for social inclusion and daily life impacts in urban communities. Human participation, as a form of sensors, is modeled as bottom-up layers for access, communication, collaboration, and coordination. The impacts of social influence, crowdsourcing, and hacking are discussed with real examples. Then, chapter 11 introduces security and privacy vulnerabilities in smart cities’ digital infrastructure, including the role of open data.

Part 4 consists of two chapters. Chapter 12 highlights the importance of approaches for civic hacking in cities, along with real examples. Finally, chapter 13 ends the book with concluding thoughts about collaboration as well as conflict between technology and design.

Overall, this book is not specifically focused only on technologies for smart cities, but provides a balanced view and philosophy for the roles of technology, design, and human perspectives. Thus, the book can be resourceful for a variety of readers, including city planners, engineers, technology experts, policy makers, and business development personnel for smart cities.

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Reviewer:  Debraj De Review #: CR144664 (1611-0801)
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Organizational Impacts (K.4.3 )
 
 
Engineering (J.2 ... )
 
 
General (D.0 )
 
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