Smart Cities are Changing

[Commentary]  Bill Gates is setting aside $80 million and over 24,000 acres to build one. Over in India, they’re planning to construct over 100 of them. They’re smart cities (SC), and they’ve been in development longer than you might think. This landscape of the future is gaining momentum as it enters the third stage of its evolution: the “city as a service.” The United Nations predicts a world population of 9.7 billion by 2050, leading to an urban population boom of 63%. Driven by the rise in global population and urbanization, smart cities are set to alter our perceptions of society as technology and big data turn cities into efficient market places for essential services.

A smart city public-private partnership (PPP) requires defined legal framework and a solid funding mechanism to scale. When executed well, PPPs allow for coordinated, consistent leadership with project transparency and public accountability. They have to address and solve, or at the very least ease, the obstacles to a universally better standard of living and leave no one behind. Smart cities and the city as a service model hold tremendous promise for improving the lives of citizens around the world, and PPPs will be the legal framework that will help make them happen.

[Sergio Fernandez de Cordova is the Chairman, Founder and visionary behind P3 Smart City]