Smart cities are gaining more attention from city planners and managers. It is becoming a top research topic due to its prominence. Many people are living today in large cities, thus large cities and even megacities grow day by day with individuals coming from elsewhere. Rural exodus, globalization, natural disasters, armed conflicts, and poor harvests force people to move to large cities for a better life. Cities that are not ready to accommodate such an influx face many crucial challenges. As a consequence, slums are built and traffic problems arise. All areas of daily life and municipal infrastructure are de facto affected.

Recent studies have shown that by 2050, more than 15 to 23 percent of the world’s population will live in 101 large cities [1]. Smart cities offer solutions to meet the challenges posed by the movement of individuals to large cities.

Three main elements underpin the foundations of a smart city: (1) urban planning and design, (2) land policies, and (3) basic infrastructure [2]. A text on smart city foundations should cover the ideas that motivate its creation. A smart city is governed by a set of rules called the principles of a smart city.

This book intends to present and discuss the foundations (fundamentals) and principles of the smart city paradigm. It further intends to propose a set of smart city applications as examples. The book can therefore be divided into three parts: smart city foundations, principles, and a set of smart city applications.

Based on the book’s title, I expected some concrete smart city applications following a set of smart city foundations and principles. Unfortunately, the book fails to present the foundations and principles. Instead, the first parts present only some technologies enabling smart city applications. The last part fails to discuss concrete smart applications.

This book is quite unreadable for many reasons, including typographical errors, missing definitions, undefined acronyms, and so on. The preface is poorly presented and does not clearly state the foundations or principles of a smart city. An overview of which smart applications will be presented in the book is also missing.

The different parts of the book are not delimited, and the section headlines are illegible due to the color contrast. A magnifying glass is needed to read the titles and section headlines. The different parts lack introductory prefaces that let the reader know what will be discussed and why those topics were selected.

In general, the entire book is a collection of journal articles. Very few concrete applications are presented and discussed, and the authors do not really point out how these applications are related to smart cities. I appreciate the included questions at the end of each chapter, though helpful sample responses are missing. I cannot recommend this book.