The term “smart city” is a trending topic in the world today. Many politicians state that their cities are “smarter” than others. This statement can only be ensured through the application and deployment of recent but powerful tools: the Internet of Things (IoT) and information and communication technology (ICT). These technologies allow the elements of a city to be interconnected. This is the core contribution of this book: the interconnection of those systems, that is, the city networks.

The book starts with a key element of every city: designing access to nature for residential buildings. After that, the book tackles virtual and augmented reality. In particular, it shows the usefulness of these technologies for visualizing new constructions (virtual buildings and interiors). Two chapters give a global overview of how the largest Asian cities and some cities in the Gulf Cooperation Council are exploiting technology in order to make their cities smarter and smarter. The fourth chapter also reviews the European Commission’s smart city model.

The next chapter (5) brings into light an interesting ethical discussion: what does the term “smart” really mean? And what are the different stages of smartification? The subsequent chapter reviews one key enabling technology in the field of smart cities: wireless communications. Here, state-of-the-art protocols are highlighted, such as 6LoWPAN, Zigbee, and Bluetooth Low Energy, among others. Chapter 7 covers another ethical discussion: how the technologies behind a smart city influence the lives of its citizens.

The next chapter focuses on other problems of current cities, such as energy consumption and urbanization and how technology can tackle those issues. Chapter 9 shows how the technology supporting smart cities is helping to mitigate the growing populations of cities and the health issues that such growth brings. The most important technology enabling smart cities is IoT. This is extensively addressed in chapter 10. The last two chapters focus on graph-based tools for representing urban systems and urban landscapes.

This book is recommended for someone who wants to understand the key ingredients of a smart city. Those ingredients are mainly based on technological tools such as IoT and ICT.