An Analysis of How Cognitive Cities Better Address Sustainability and Equity Concerns in Society as Compared to Smart Cities

Abstract

More than half the population today lives in urban areas. The UN predicts with 80% confidence that the global population will get to between 9.6 billion and 12.3 billion people within the 21st century. Population increase leads to more people in the city. More people in the city translates to new challenges that need addressing. When addressing the new challenges, cities evolve by improving the efficiency of services. Eventually, cities change in both structure and composition. In helping show how the cities have changed, the authors utilized the industrial revolution theory which occurred in stages from the first industrial revolution to Industry 5.0. Just like the industrial revolution, cities evolve in stages with the latter stage using the success of the former stage as building blocks. Smart cities which are characterized by progressive city plans and state-of-the-art infrastructure act as a building block for cognitive cities which are characterized by the ability to have connectivity, and common data architecture for people to share and drive innovation.