Smart cities: What are they?

Less than a quarter of UK consumers claim to be aware of the term'smart cities', according to a report by out-of-home and location marketing specialists, Posterscope. Smart in the City surveyed more than 5,500 consumers about their opinion on smart cities and their key features. Deeper analysis into the research report, however, shows there is more understanding and interest when respondents were questioned about specific initiatives. When asked which smart city features were deemed to be the most useful, those initiatives that provide a real-life benefit that people can easily relate to were rated the highest: smart water (89 per cent), smart construction (85 per cent), smart energy (81 per cent) and smart health (79 per cent). Features considered the least useful were smart tourism and leisure (59 per cent), smart retail (57per cent) and smart finance (57 per cent).