Toward integrated smart city: a new model for implementation and design challenges

GeoJournal. 2022;87(Suppl 4):511-526. doi: 10.1007/s10708-021-10560-w. Epub 2022 Jan 20.

Abstract

In smart city architecture, information and communication technologies are used to improve living standards and its management by citizens and government. Most researchers have divided this structure into six main components: smart people, the smart government, smart environment, smart transportation, smart economy, and smart life. Due to the connection between smart cities and the challenges resulting from their implementation and especially its integration, there exists no perfect solution for the concept of an integrated smart city so far according to our studies. Some more general concepts such as security, ICT infrastructure, and knowledge are not seen integrative in these structures. Therefore, it seems that new sub-components and general extra-components should be added to the existing models to form an integrated structure in such a way that the executive projects are located in their proper place in this structure and create and guarantee the integration of the smart city. Therefore, the requirements engineering of the smart city can also be explained more precisely. This study presents a model of an integrated graph in such a way that besides maintaining and improving the model of the smart city and existing models, it will fully cover the integration and requirements engineering and methodologies of the smart city in the future. The present paper offers an upgraded model of a six-component smart city structure as a flexible integrated dynamic graph so that beside maintaining the features of existing smart city models, it ensures its integrity, dynamism, flexibility and performance and prevents the failure of smart operations. Due to its flexibility, adaptability and localization, the proposed model presented in this paper can create an integrated solution and facilitating the life cycle of executive systems and enable governments and communities to predict and prevent sudden events such as natural disasters, pandemics like Covid-19 and the like as well as managing and leading their target community in the best way.

Keywords: Covid19; Flexibility; Integrated model; Integrated smart city; Internet of things (IoT); Requirements engineering; Smart city.