Meta-principles for developing smart, sustainable, and healthy cities.

Area of Science:

• Urban planning
• Data science
• Sustainability science

Background:

• Global focus on smart city development driven by policy directives.
• Need to integrate data science innovations for human well-being and planetary sustainability.
• Current smart city approaches often limited to city-level data, neglecting complex urban systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To advocate for a higher-order understanding of cities as complex systems.
• To identify key dimensions and principles for transitioning to smart, sustainable, and healthy urban futures.
• To guide systems-level decision-making for urban development.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual framework development.
• Identification of five key dimensions of urban systems.
• Formulation of eight guiding principles for smart city transitions.

Main Results:

• Cities are characterized by five key dimensions: transboundary, multisectoral, multiscalar, social-ecological, and infrastructural.
• Eight principles are proposed to guide systems-level decision-making.
• A framework for understanding cities as integrated systems is presented.

Conclusions:

• Transitioning to smart, sustainable, and healthy cities necessitates a systems-thinking approach.
• The proposed dimensions and principles offer a roadmap for effective urban planning and policy.
• Future urban development must embrace complexity and interconnectedness for long-term success.