Smart Cities
What is a Smart City?
In urban design and public policy, a smart city is a technology-enhanced environment that collects and uses data to optimize public services, infrastructure, and daily life. It integrates digital tools like sensors, cameras, and AI to monitor real-time conditions, from traffic and energy use to air quality and waste management. Smart cities aim to improve both the efficiency of city systems and the experiences of the people who live in them.
The Basic Idea
You’re stuck in traffic again. Red lights stretch ahead like a fuse, and cars idle in every lane. Your GPS says traveling six blocks will take another 40 minutes. You check your transit app, but it lags. Meanwhile, a delivery van inches forward beside you. Across town, a traffic camera spots a different jam. A server processes the data. A pattern is detected, and a signal is sent. Green light. That small, invisible decision belongs to a smart city.
Smart cities are built to sense and respond. They use embedded technology, sensors, data networks, and connected infrastructure to track what’s happening in real time: traffic, air quality, energy use, pedestrian flow, even garbage levels. Once data is collected, machine learning and rule-based systems translate it into action. Signals change, routes update, services deploy. A smart city doesn’t wait for a breakdown. It adapts before one happens.
In Stockholm, dynamic congestion tolls update based on traffic levels. When volume increases, so do fees. After this system launched, peak-time traffic dropped 20% and pollution fell by 14%.1 These weren’t broad announcements or campaigns. Drivers saw live prices before entering the zone and made decisions in the moment. Sensors tracked changes and fed them back into the system. Smart infrastructure also supports public services. In Singapore, predictive algorithms monitor train systems and alert operators at the first signs of wear and tear. This reduces breakdowns, improves response time, and helps allocate repairs.2 During the COVID-19 pandemic, the same system helped manage public space by tracking crowd density. The city didn’t need to install new tech. The infrastructure was already in place.
In Barcelona, public parks use smart irrigation to reduce water waste. Soil sensors and weather forecasts work together to decide when and how much to water, reducing public water use without changing the greenery or adding new staff.3 Smart cities are not controlled by one dashboard. They are networks of small systems, linked through feedback loops. Energy grids, traffic lights, public transit, waste bins, and health services each feed data into a larger picture. The feedback helps cities become more efficient, more sustainable, and more responsive to the people moving through them.
Behavior plays a central role. A smart crosswalk means little if pedestrians ignore it. A smart parking app only helps if drivers use it. These systems rely on predictable patterns of human behavior. Behavioral scientists help make these systems work better; for example, by nudging energy use with in-home displays or shaping commuter choices with real-time arrival screens.
Toronto’s Sidewalk Labs project proposed a neighborhood that would adapt to its residents. Sidewalk widths could shift during the day, lights could respond to pedestrian volume, and modular building components might change with the seasons.4 The plan never reached construction. While officially attributed to financial pressures during the pandemic, the project had already sparked intense debate over how much control a private company should have over public data. Residents and advocacy groups questioned who would own the sensor-collected information, how it would be used, and whether safeguards would be strong enough. These concerns revealed an important reality for smart city design: technical innovation cannot succeed without public trust. The vision of a responsive city met the limits of governance, transparency, and citizen consent.
Smart cities are shaped by how people interact with them. The technology tracks patterns, but it also creates new ones. Every screen, sensor, and alert drives daily decision-making. When designed well, these systems align with real needs and improve how people live, move, and choose.
“Good design becomes a meaningless tautology if we consider that man will be reshaped to fit whatever environment he creates.”
— Robert Sommer, environmental psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of California, Davis 5
About the Author
Adam Boros
Adam studied at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine for his MSc and PhD in Developmental Physiology, complemented by an Honours BSc specializing in Biomedical Research from Queen's University. His extensive clinical and research background in women’s health at Mount Sinai Hospital includes significant contributions to initiatives to improve patient comfort, mental health outcomes, and cognitive care. His work has focused on understanding physiological responses and developing practical, patient-centered approaches to enhance well-being. When Adam isn’t working, you can find him playing jazz piano or cooking something adventurous in the kitchen.
