A smart city is one that adopts scalable solutions so as to take advantage of ICT in order to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance quality of life, according to technology conglomerate Cisco. Smart cities can help to overcome the strain on urban resources brought upon by rapid urbanisation, an aging population, and a changing energy climate. This would help ASEAN meet its long-term sustainable development goals.

Thailand is set to develop more smart cities following their pilot project involving three cities. Deputy Prime Minister, Prajin Jungtong said in a speech in November 2017 that the aim is to have 100 smart cities within two decades to improve the quality of life in urban centres. The three cities involved in the pilot smart cities programme are Phuket, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.

Smart cities, while not dominating discussions at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Singapore earlier this month, was nevertheless talked about. Singapore, which chairs ASEAN for 2018 under the theme of innovation and resilience has been a strong advocate of a network of ASEAN smart cities to be formed as part of its chairmanship goals.

The recent joint venture between Baidu and Asia Mobility Industries (AMI) to develop autonomous driving technology in Singapore brings it one step closer to becoming the smart nation it hopes to be.

Much ado about the 31st ASEAN SummitThe highlight for this week was the conclusion of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Meetings which began last week.

“Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, an American poet, physician and polymath. Such is the invention of smart cities.A smart city is an area of urban development that utilises various methods of electronic data collection to manage the city’s assets and natural resources.