With the demand for innovation and digitalisation skyrocketing like never before, the looks of our cities have irrevocably changed. Everything is buzzing with apps, sensors, and instant notifications. The new culture of communication and connectivity is permeating all levels of our cities, and we call it now “smart cities”.
To keep pace with this always evolving concept, for the first part of the series of our blogs on smart city literature, we have chosen top 5 books that cover all the recent urban trends and analyse the process of city digitalisation.

1. Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia by Anthony M. Townsend
Who is a city hacker? It is you and me. The active user of a city of the future who is well aware of technologies around and can successfully navigate through them. Big data is an essential and intrinsic component of these cities. Will those cities be the next utopia or a sci-fi apocalyptic future? Anthony Townsend gives answers to these questions and explores all possibilities and case scenarios of what happens when era of digitalisation enters the scene.

2. Future Cities: 42 Insights and Interviews with Influencers, Startups, Investors by Stefano L. Tresca
In this book, Stefano gathered interviews and insights from the leading figures and companies in the smart city sector from every corner of the world. From 3D printing and driverless cars to Artificial Intelligence and IoT.  If you want to learn the most raw, real-life answers from hands-on professionals who shape the industry, this is the read for you.

3. Smart Citizens, Smarter State: The Technologies of Expertise and the Future of Governing by Beth Simone Noveck
Beth Noveck successfully merges academia, business, and political expertises to critically evaluate the current state of governance and citizen engagement. She puts people in the middle of decision-making, and envisions the future of our cities in participatory democracy. According to the author, the public decision-making could have been more legitimate, if only the officials could integrate new technologies into their processes and take the most of it to leverage citizens’ insights and skills.  “Smart Citizens, Smarter State” is a read for those who are interested in looking at the future through the prism of innovation and citizens’ capacity.

4. Smart Cities, Digital Nations: Building Smart Cities in Emerging Countries and Beyond by Caspar Herzberg
Caspar Herzberg dissects our present, past, and future. He dives deep into the core of urbanization and its consequences. Caspar warns that in order to be able to keep running our cities, we should reshape existing practices and not underestimate the power of data. For this, the author analyses different city planning projects across the globe and explains the importance of each milestone. Herzberg believes in the collaborative future of cities, in which, different stakeholders, city planners, tech companies, municipal and national bureaucracies and citizen groups work together to push forward urban development.

5. Sustainable Smart Cities: Creating Spaces for Technological, Social and Business Development by Marta Peris-Ortiz, Dag R. Bennett, Diana Pérez-Bustamante Yábar
In all this technological fuss, we should not forget about sustainability and the importance of building our cuties resilient. People have been actively driving digital transformation and transition, but the question to answer is, whether these processes have been building our cities towards sustainability.
The authors have identified key elements that shape smart cities and the tools and techniques that ensure a smooth transition from an industrial city to a smart city. They break down smart cities into the following components:  Citizen participation and empowerment,  Value creation mechanisms , Public administration, Quality of life and sustainability,  Democracy,  ICT, Private initiatives and entrepreneurship. This is an excellent book for those who are interested in case studies and want to back up their expertise on smart cities with the theoretical and research foundation.

Do you have any other book recommendations for us and our readers? Leave them in comments below or tweet us @CHAOSarchitects.