Urban planners and researchers say that in the years to come Smart City resident would see great synergy emerging out of public and commercial Internment of Things (IoT) initiatives.

Recent research studies have identified three key areas for commercial IoT: (1) Connected Homes, (2) Connected Vehicles, and (3) Industrial IoT. An up-and-coming fourth area is personal IoT via wearable technologies.

All of these areas have bearing on various Smart City technologies and solutions within the IoT arena relative to public infrastructure.

Smart Cities represent an opportunity in the public sector as researchers expect IoT to support various infrastructure initiatives including Smart Grids and other critical areas. In reviewing the European Smart Cities project, researchers estimate expenditures reaching upwards to US$16billion by 2020.

This is just the start as communications, devices, and overall telecom infrastructure is put into place to support various aspects of the Smart City, including structural health of buildings, waste management, air quality, noise control, traffic congestion, energy consumption, and everyday efficiency items such as smart parking, lighting, and building automation.