Abstract

Where some view smart cities as harbingers of the future utopia, others see them as possibly oppressive environments built to keep control. Regardless of any bent on smart cities, their design should include the storied elements of sustainability from popular culture as well as the continuity planning inherent in the field of resiliency. In a future where a natural or other disaster might bring a city of the past to a standstill, cities designed with resiliency in mind would tend to be less affected and bounce back quicker. The notion of autonomy, where a city or a portion thereof would not require continuous access to outside power to have power, speaks to both resiliency and sustainability. Because prior planning is the name of the game for each, why wouldn't builders of cities take each into account from the design phase forward? The skills wrung from intimate familiarity with resiliency, after all, go hand in hand with any planning efforts and can promote formulating strategies that incorporate the unforeseen.