The Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) is the leading international event for smart cities, and it has been held every year in Barcelona since 2011. There was a break for a couple of years because of the pandemic, but the event returned in 2021 for its 10th anniversary. I had the opportunity to tune into the 2022 event, which was held in person in Barcelona in November and was also streamed online.
While creating a smart city involves a lot more than just technology — aspects such as policy, politics, governance, etc. are key — there is no doubt that technology solutions such as AI, IoT, digital twins, data analytics, etc. can go a long way in enabling cities to function more efficiently. There are also many more aspects of a city that need to be “smartened” in addition to its infrastructure such as mobility, energy, utilities, safety, etc. While the SCEWC event was devoted to exploring several aspects of smart cities, there were a few sessions related to…