The development of smart cities involves a wide range of aspects and the entire society will change.

With the rapid development of related technologies, the concept of "smart city" has gradually taken shape. This title is not just a type of city, but the sum of multiple technologies. The vast amount of data collected from different technologies will improve human life. However, in addition to the tangible technological development, the social movements and human behaviors that are changing are also issues worth considering.

According to reports, Smart City Technology includes millions of devices, such as water supply valves, medical sensors, billboards, street lights, energy usage monitors, and more. There is also a hardware platform that delivers data, a software layer on top of the hardware, and a network that monitors the software to make sure everything is working.

These technologies are generally based on six major areas: energy, tap water, sewage systems, waste disposal, life support, transportation and safety.

For example, in smart energy management, smart meters and appliances will feed back the collected data back to the supply system to improve energy efficiency and manage energy supply. In life support technology, it can help the elderly to live independently. For example, sensors and monitors worn on patients can transmit data back to the local medical system and reduce the burden on the local health care system.

In terms of transportation, the transportation system can be adjusted according to the work pattern of the regional population. For example, a suburban area with shift work is the mainstay. The public transport schedule of the area should be adjusted accordingly.

The use of technology in smart cities can be viewed from two perspectives: top-down and bottom-up.

From the top down, it is the local government and the public sector that provide infrastructure to build the required technology to improve the efficiency of infrastructure construction and improve the life of taxpayers. Sometimes it may not be the public sector, or it may be the private enterprise to promote the development of smart city technology, in order to strengthen the business model, or because it has contracted the local government case.

The bottom-up emphasis is on individuals using technology to improve the quality of life, such as mobile apps, social media, sensors, networks, etc. With these technologies, people can learn new technologies and improve with online learning. The interaction of public construction management authorities, or the development of innovative traffic patterns such as shared cars.

The key to the success of this model is whether the platform for obtaining and using these data is unblocked, beneficial to the development of new apps, or funding from online crowdfunding platforms to support innovative projects.

Smart city technology must first consider privacy issues and the correctness and completeness of the information. For example, an energy company that has personal power consumption information may judge its personal occupation from the electricity usage mode, and then sell the information to the advertising company to advertise accordingly. In other words, data anonymity is very important, not only to protect the privacy of the people, but also to protect the intellectual property of the public and private sectors that provide public services.

In addition, with the development of smart cities, the inevitable need to think about the future is the maintenance and replacement of hardware should be paid by who? Who is responsible for the monitoring of the network and those smart devices, nodes, and errors? In the end, what should be managed by the public sector, and where is the scope of the private sector? Who can represent the public?

All in all, the development of smart cities involves many aspects, not only hardware, software, but also systems, lifestyles, etc. How the appearance depends not only on the development of science and technology, but also on the social and economic changes driven by technology and people's reactions.