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Smart sustainable cities: An analysis of definitions

Executive summary

This Technical Report was written with the aim of establishing a concrete definition for smart
sustainable cities (SSC) which can be used worldwide. Although there is abundant literature
available on smart cities, there is no standardized, commonly accepted set of terminologies which
would help to aptly describe a "smart sustainable city". Such a standardized definition will help
create a more defined structure in relation to information and communication technology (ICT)
infrastructure, key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics and policies for smart sustainable cities as
viewed by ITU.
The following common criteria was used as a guideline, based on key attributes: (1) sustainability,
(2) quality of life, (3) urban aspects, and (4) intelligence or smartness.

Core themes for SSC include: (1) society, (2) economy, (3) environment, and (4) governance.
Approximately 116 existing definitions of smart sustainable cities were studied and analysed by
using as a guideline the attributes and themes of SSC developed in a parallel ITU‐T Technical Report
on the Overview of smart sustainable cities. These definitions were obtained from a variety of
sources including: academia and research communities, government initiatives, international
organizations (United Nations, ITU, etc.), corporate/company profiles, user centric definitions, trade
associations and standards development organizations (SDOs).

Key categories and indicators were established and a list of 30 key terms which should be included
in a standardized definition were also identified. The following eight (8) categories were identified
to be key for SSC: (1) quality of life and lifestyle, (2) infrastructure and services, (3) ICT,
communications, intelligence and information, (4) people, citizen and society, (5) environment and
sustainability, (6) governance, management and administration, (7) economy and Finance, and (8)
mobility. Six (6) primary indicators were identified to be smart living, smart people, smart
environment and sustainability, smart governance, smart mobility and smart economy. The
following 30 key words were identified to be representative of SSC.
 ICT  Employment  Water
 Adaptable  Citizens  Utilities and energy
 Reliable  Well‐being  Telecommunications
 Scalable  Medical Welfare  Manufacturing
 Accessible  Physical safety  Natural and man‐made
 Security  Education disasters
 Safe  Environmental  Regulatory and compliance
 Resilient  Physical and service  Governance
 Economic infrastructure  Policies and processes
 Growth  Transportation and mobility  Standardization
 Standard of living

ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications 51