Back when we first wrote this collection of smart city trends, it was amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The general sentiment at the time was that shut-down had put many smart city plans on hold. We all recall hearing about the inevitable rise in self-driving cars. Some experts were even predicting, as outlandishly futuristic as it might sound, flying cars. But our dreams of living in Back to the Future II were put on hold when the health crisis caused cities to re-evaluate their infrastructure plans.
However, despite our general lack of hover-crafts, the pandemic did not kill the smart city dream. On the contrary, many cities pursued other less overtly dramatic smart city initiatives in part because of the pandemic. After all, the smartest cities know that a digitally connected community is just as much about promoting public health and safety, improving emergency response, and effective analytics as it is about transportation and sustainability. They also know that in the long run a smart city saves more than it costs.
