Smart Urban Public Spaces-Towards a Better City Life.

Abstract

Smart cities as a concept have been widely used in the past decades on various levels, many types of research have been talking about how our cities will look in the near future with the various applications of smart technologies, in different fields and areas related to the city. One of these areas is the urban public spaces of our cities, and how they will look when applying smartness on them. Smart urban public Spaces are spaces that use technology to assist and help the usage of urban public spaces, while Smart urban public spaces are supposed to meet today's trends of technology and architecture, It also affects the social, cultural, economic and ecological level of the community. Smart Urban Public spaces have experienced a change in their meaning & Function in the age of technological interconnectedness. Due to the development of smart and networked technologies and services, new opportunities have become available for city dwellers. This continuous evaluation can serve as a basis for the further development of the smart networking of public spaces, to meet the needs of the city dwellers and to increase the attractiveness of such urban public spaces. The objective of the smart digital networking of public spaces is not only the improvement of the accessibility, utilization or aesthetics of such spaces but also help in better understanding of the behavior of the city dwellers, especially In important megacities like Cairo where the application of new technologies is demonstrated by means of improved urban mobility structures, increased energy efficiency of buildings and local pollution emission reductions, in addition to social connectivity and networking. Research is an attempt to answer some questions, how Smart and innovative technologies can make urban public spaces better, and how these smart Urban public spaces can improve people lives in their cities accordingly. The research methodology applied in this paper will be through making a literature Review, analysis of smart Urban public space concepts, technologies applied, benefits of applications and various challenges. The paper will explore also some global Case studies of smart urban public spaces, then concludes by examining the opportunities of application in Cairo, as a megacity, whether on the level of Current urban public spaces or future urban public spaces.

Keywords: smart cities, urban public spaces, smart urban spaces