The contribution of Smart Cities to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 "Sustainable cities and communities"

Resumo

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and sustainability awareness have developed new ways of understanding and managing cities. Diverse authors define «Smart City» as the combination of ICT with infrastructure, architecture, urban equipment and people to address social, economic and environmental issues. With regard to ICT, two mainstream approaches have emerged oriented to the technology and people. Whilst the former is focused on the efficiency and upgrading of infrastructure and technology through ICT, the latter is directed to social and human capital in terms of knowledge, participation, equity, safety, and so forth. However, the holistic integration of environmental, economic and social dimensions with technological opportunities is still scarce. Since the Brundtland Commission coined the term «Sustainable Development» in 1987, several global initiatives have been adopted by the international community in order to deal with the biggest challenges facing humankind. In September 2015, 193 countries subscribed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity that comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be reached by 2030. Due to the ongoing urbanization and growth of the world´s population, there will be about 2.5 billion more people added to the urban population by 2050. Thus, cities will play a leading role in the achievement of these goals. The SDG #11 was more specifically conceived to make cities and communities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable places. Although recent studies have incorporated sustainability into smart city approaches, the contribution of smart cities to the attainment of SDGs has been rarely explored. This research aims at bridging this gap by examining how smart cities can strengthen sustainability, resilience, safety and inclusiveness of urban areas.