From Smart City to Wise City

The term "smart" emerged in the United States in the 1990s as part of the Smart Growth citizen movement. At the same time, the term "Smart City" was coined by companies such as Cisco, IBM, Siemens, and Ericsson to promote urban development that was increasingly reliant on information and communication technologies (ICT) and globalization.

From a definitional standpoint, the concept of the Smart City remains ambiguous and is far from being conceptually established, to the point that it can be considered a catch-all term. It is attracting increasing attention from urban planners, policymakers, local governments, academia, and the institutional sector. All authors agree that the Smart City is part of a transformative dynamic centered on urban public actors. Today, becoming a Smart City is likely the most widely shared urban ambition in the world.

At first glance, a Smart City is digital because it relies on ICT to manage flows (energy, information, traffic), networks, and urban infrastructure. Upon closer examination, the Smart City is more inclusive, as it focuses on human capital and citizen participation with the goal of conserving resources while maintaining quality of life. At a deeper level, the Smart City builds on the concept of the sustainable city, drawing on both technology and social factors to create a city with a high quality of life. While the term “Smart City” refers to a city, this concept applies to any local community seeking to embark on a “smart” initiative.

Furthermore, the digital transition is having such a profound technological, organizational, and cultural impact on society that it is also giving rise to new political and urban governance challenges in its own right. As a result, the term “smart”—in both French and English—is increasingly being replaced by “intelligent” or even “wise,” reflecting a shift away from a purely technological focus toward a more sustainable and socially inclusive approach.

The term "wise" (meaning prudent, reasonable, and moderate) evokes the potential offered by digital technology for regional development during a period of transition—both digital and ecological—toward a new model of civilization and development that is more sustainable, frugal, and inclusive. A Wise City is therefore a city capable of achieving its goals of improving quality of life while using as few resources as possible, by creating localized synergies without compromising its ecosystem. It relies as much on ICT as on collective intelligence, citizen empowerment, and inclusion. The Wise City is an emerging paradigm that builds on the Smart Growth movement that emerged in the U.S. in the early 1990s, which refers to policies for managing the growth of urban and suburban areas and a set of design...