What is Smart City?

The meaning of the word smart city, smart = smart, city = city

Smart City is defined as follows according to the documents of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Sustainable cities or districts

where management (Planning, development, management, operation, etc.) is carried out and overall optimization is carried out, while utilizing new technologies such as ICT, for various urban issues.

Cited from "Toward Smart Cities: [interim report] (https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001249774.pdf)" by the Ministry of Land , Infrastructure , Transport and Tourism

At present, there are various social problems such as the problems of the elderly and the environment, and we intend to create a city that can solve these problems by using the latest ICT technology. Currently, the government and companies are conducting research and development.

So you're trying to solve the city's problems with smart cities.

There are cases where smart cities are promoted in local towns for the purpose of regional revitalization.

Even though

, when you build any smart city, do you start from scratch?

Of course, there are cases where smart cities are created by developing vast open spaces, but there are also cases where smart cities are created by adding IoT technologies to existing cities.

Examples of areas where smart cities can solve problems

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, smart cities can solve the following problems. Click on any of the areas in the image below for more information.

Image: Created by a team based on "Figure -1 Definition of Smart Cities in this Interim Report" in the "Toward Smart Cities: [interim report] (https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001249774.pdf)" by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Let's take a look at each field of

and what kind of city development it leads to. Examples of specific initiatives are shown on other pages.

In addition to the 5 areas mentioned above, we may be able to solve problems in areas such as "Health and medical care" by combining ICT with residents' health management.