Air Quality In Smart Cities: Beyond Technology

Being ‘smart’ remains a prominent goal that many cities wish to achieve, not only for the excitement the awarding of ‘smart city status’ can generate, but also because smart cities are seen as the way to overcome current and future urban challenges. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is globally recognised for their standards, and in 2019 they released their Smart City Indicators standard (ISO 37122) which has since become a leading standardised methodology adopted by city leaders to guide their city smartness efforts. The ISO 37122 also links its smart city indicators to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) thus creating a clear link for how their indicators can help cities meet respective SDGs. Technology is undoubtedly a necessary component of smart cities as well as a means to achieve the SDGs. However, the ISO 37122 and often those in the built environment tend to prioritise technological output over a more human-centric smart outcome, which can arguably impede any progress towards smartness or the SDGs. This paper presents the analysis of the ISO 37122 air quality smart city indicator linked to SDGs 3 and 11. Through critical discourse analysis it uncovers shortfalls of the proposed indicator methodology when analysed through the smart outcome lens, and identifies areas within that where achieving smartness is hindered. Technology alone is not enough to improve a city’s air quality, to achieve a smart outcome and consequently the SDGs themselves; this paper aims to recalibrate the collective focus on what actually achieves a sustainable and smart built environment.