Smart Cities, Digital Nations: How Digital Urban Infrastructure Can Deliver a Better Life in Tomorrow’s Crowded World

Twenty-first century life, for most people, will be an urban experience. As millions migrate to cities in search of opportunity and connection, our conception of how a city runs, uses resources and manages public services must change. The city itself must be reimagined as a matrix of functions and information, with digitized networks harnessing and multiplying the power of data. This is not the future; this is today. Caspar Herzberg explains how ambitious new city plans across the world are moving from the drawing board into reality. As a top Cisco consultant, he participated in groundbreaking projects in South Korea, Saudi Arabia, India, China and many other countries. In Smart Cities, Digital Nations, he recounts the origins of seminal digital city-building projects, including Songdo, South Korea the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Economic City, and explains how these early attempts have provided the groundwork for city planning efforts across the globe. Importantly, Herzberg moves beyond theory and discusses the delicate alliances between tech companies, city planners, municipal and national bureaucracies and citizen groups that undergird successful urban development. And while tech companies do not have all the answers, he explains their multifaceted contributions as absolutely necessary to the smart, forward-thinking digital infrastructure being created today. While recognizing the immense challenges of both engineering and consensus among diverse stakeholders, Smart Cities, Digital Nations makes clear that digital cities are essential to the future prosperity of many developing countries, and to the continuing vitality of the West. This is a unique perspective on the recent past, present and future of the modern city, a guide through its challenges and a vision of its success.

Caspar Herzberg is a corporate entrepreneur and executive. He worked at Cisco from 2005 to 2015. Now the President of Schneider Electric Middle East and Africa, he has spent the best part of the last decade pioneering digital solutions for cities and countries across China, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.