Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence: Convergent Systems for Planning, Design, and Operations

Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence: Convergent Systems for Planning, Design, and Operations, Second Edition presents an integrated perspective on how cities are evolving as intelligent ecosystems shaped by the convergence of human, technological, and environmental systems. Drawing on developments in machine learning, neural networks, geospatial intelligence, data analytics and visualization, sensors, and smart connected objects, the book explains how these elements combine to form a new urban collective intelligence. By framing cities as real-time, adaptive, living systems, and by introducing tools such as generative design and living lab models, the book equips readers with the conceptual and practical foundation needed to plan, design, and operate next-generation smart cities. Adopting a multidisciplinary and systems-based approach, it provides a holistic understanding of smart cities through interconnected theory, planning and design methodologies, system architecture, and applied smart city functions, all aimed at enabling more liveable, sustainable, and self-regulating urban environments.

The second edition introduces a new section in each chapter framed as reflections and projections, offering insights across the ten-year window from 2020, when the first edition was published, through 2030. These additions align the book with recent developments in AI and urban technologies and include an expanded comparison of global smart cities in the City DNA section, examining how different cities evolve, adopt technology, and shape distinctive global identities and competitive positions. Additional updates include new material on Digital Twins and the Metaverse as emerging extensions of the smart city operating system, select new use cases, refreshed references, and an expanded glossary to improve clarity and accessibility. Together, these enhancements ensure that the book remains current and useful for practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and educators shaping the future of urban intelligence.