A few years ago, we passed a milestone: for the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. In 2050 it is estimated 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. Different cities face different challenges which relate to their demographic, economic, geographic, social, environmental and political contexts. However some mega trends such as urbanization, water quality and scarcity, environment concerns, traffic congestion are greatly impacting how cities evolve. Cities are places where citizens work, create, live, consume and socialize. Thus the role of cities is increasingly to provide the highest quality service and to transform major risks into opportunities for social and economic development.
According to the World Bank, 80% of the global GDP is generated in cities. This shows the economic role of the urban centers in the global economy. Similarly the role of cities in social and environmental issues is large and growing. Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, New York, London, Paris and other mega cities have to take responsibility and lead by example, showing the way to other growing cities how they tackle global issues.
Smart Cities Association is working with Cities for several years now through its founders. We have allocated important resources to build knowledge sharing and value propositions to answer our partners’ needs.
Smart Cities Association believes that for the success of a city transformation to a smart city an eco system should be created. The 3 corners of this eco system are:
- City stakeholders: government officials, citizens and academia
- Technology solution providers
- Enterprise sector
We are engaged with all the above to bring to cities the stakeholders needs combined with leading technology and meeting the enterprise automation plans
We have two platforms, partners and members:
- The partners platform are the cities stakeholdes such as governments, municipalities, utilities and citizens
- The members platform are the market research companies and the technology vendors who both are committed to the Smart Cities Association to provide the latest business trends and future technology development and plans.
Cities around the region have plans to improve efficiency in all its resources and make citizens happy to live in the city
the Smart Cities Association goal is to work with cities to share knowledge and provide education and awareness on business model and technology solutions.