An Analysis of Smart Cities’ Initiatives in Portugal

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, humanity faces the great challenge of the exponential growth of the world’s population. With this accelerated growth, new daily challenges and obstacles to human life have come. It is essential to develop tools and systems capable of solving most of these issues and improving the quality of human life. This case study reflects on cities’ current innovation and digital intelligence levels. The exponential growth of the world’s population brings excellent challenges to humanity, and cities have been the tool to “manage” this growth. However, city problems started to rise as the number of people increased. These threats must be fought to ensure well-being. In this way, people have started to look into technological innovation for answers. Although Portugal’s population is very low compared to some of the largest cities in the world, intelligent projects are being developed that contribute to better management of mobility, economy, and resources, for example. This study aims to demonstrate the importance and impact of technological evolution on cities. Information was collected on 68 initiatives (62 city projects and 6 national projects) in Portugal that are being developed or implemented. The scopes range from economics to environment, mobility, and health, among others. It is intended to identify good practices and strategies in terms of smart cities in Portugal.