Cities in Southeast Asia are now faced with the strategic choice of whether economic dynamism comes at the cost of a liveable city. Pollution, concentration of population, congestion, and poor environment all contribute to this dilemma. To prevent future generations being saddled with the legacy of poor urban planning and development failure, one option is to manage the region’s urbanization processes by developing “smart cities”. Smart cities of the future will need sustainable urban development policies where all residents, including the poor, can live well and the attraction of the towns and cities is preserved.

Good urban planning underpins the development of a smart city. Characteristics of a smart city have been identified as smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment, and smart living (Giffinger 2007). Smart cities are thus cities that have a high quality of life; those that pursue sustainable economic development through investments in human and social capital, and traditional and modern communications infrastructure (transport and information commmunication technology); and manage natural resources through participatory policies. Smart cities should also be sustainable, converging economic, social, and environmental goals.