Exploring the Concept of Smart Cities in Rapidly Urbanizing Pakistan

Abstract

Smart cities hold the promise of a sustainable future. The concept of smart cities was born out of a need to improve the quality of life for people. The basic principle of a smart city is to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) with efficient and ubiquitous public service delivery. Pakistan's future is inextricably bound up with the fate of its cities. The urban population of Pakistan is rapidly increasing from 32.5 percent in 1998 to 36.4 percent in 2017. By 2050, it is projected that two-third of Pakistan's population will reside in urban areas. Most of the population expansion occurs haphazardly, which results in crafting urban issues. In the absence of effective urban policy and true population data, it is challenging to manage urbanization. It seems that the only way to manage rapid urbanization, real-time information is the need by which government can be able to control novel urban problems. The paper focuses on the smart city concept in Pakistan‘s context for addressing urbanization-related issues.