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Born from the idea of sustainability some 30-odd years after the energy crises of the 1970s illuminated the extent to which we needed to change our energy consumption habits, the "Smart City" has become the newest model for what cities of the future might look like. Whether or not this model includes the sort of technology we associate with science fiction such as flying cars or elaborate robotics, the concept of Smart Cities revolves around the fact that people are concerned with efficiency—and in order to create better societies, the integration of increasingly sophisticated technology into everyday life might be the way to achieve this.
From this idea rises the concept of the Smart City: urban environments in which innovative information and communication technologies and a proliferation of data aim to efficiently improve quality of life. But how is this rather vague aim of technologically advanced city actually being realized - and are the results as utopian as they are often made to sound?
