Smart Cities – Challenges and opportunities for German development cooperation

The smart city concept refers to sustainable and socially inclusive urban developments which systematically and intelligently combine information and communication technologies (ICT) with transportation systems, energy infrastructure, and public service delivery. Today, more than half of the world’s population already lives in cities and metropolitan regions (CMR). Forecasts predict this number will rise to over 75 per cent by 2050. Increasing urbanisation will further exacerbate many existing problems faced by cities in developing countries and emerging economies. Smart cities can counteract this and assist in efforts to achieve central development goals.

On behalf of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), adelphi identified courses of action in German development cooperation (GDC) efforts to implement the smart cities concept in developing and emerging economies. adelphi evaluated the transferability of intelligent ICT applications to cities in developing and emerging economies and illustrated how central development goals such as poverty alleviation, green growth or good governance could be promoted. adelphi submitted the study to GIZ in August 2013. The study was intended sharpen the discourse on ICT and urban development.