Developing member countries of ADB are requesting for its support in the development of smart cities projects and various project officers in ADB are integrating smart elements in project designs. But how is ADB supporting cities in Asia and the Pacific to become smarter? What have been the Bank's experiences in identifying smart city investments? What are some of the challenges and lessons learned? And, how does ADB define what makes an investment, or a city, smart?

ADB's regional technical assistance on Promoting Smart Systems (TA 9170-REG: Promoting Smart Systems in ADB's Future Cities Program), funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, looked at five diverse cities and could argue that while common elements are present, there simply is no universal definition of what a smart city is. Many of the ‘smart’ label in projects comes down to how efficiently a city can deliver services that its citizens actually need.

Project officers in this ADB's in-house Urban Studio lecture series were invited to share updates and experiences on how they are working to introduce or enhance the smartness of cities. Based on commonalities identified, building blocks for an ADB definition of smart cities were identified.