Smart sustainable cities: strategies for implementation and effectuation

In past years, the Smart City stands among the most popular discourses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet of Things (IoT). This article has as a research problem the following question: what criteria are used to define a city as smart? To this end, it aims to identify and to analyze five indexes responsible for this categorization: 1) The Easypark Smart Cities Index; 2) The IMD Smart City Index; 3) IESE Cities in Motion Index; 4) Ranking Connected Smart Cities and; 5) ISO 37120. There are considerable indexers, but with areas in common. Beyond the technological aspect, it is not enough to be connected employing ICTs or IoT sustainability is an intrinsically linked parameter for defining a Smart City. Therefore, the most appropriate term for future constructions seems to be Smart Sustainable City. Furthermore, as seen in the indexes, smart sustainable cities may present technological, organizational, and governmental risks, which may make their implementation and effectiveness more difficult. In the end, according to specialized literature, it is demonstrated strategies for managing risks linked to interoperability, data processing, privacy, disaster control (natural and human), urban transportation, energy, water aspects, and governance. The conclusion is that the idea of a smart city presupposes standardized parameters to be implemented and aimed at the satisfaction of the concept as a sustainable method. The monographic research method and the bibliographic research technique are used in this paper.