Table 1 Domains, terms and definitions of city brands relate to smart cities

Infrastructure & ICTs

Ubiquitous city

An urban space where ubiquitous technologies are embedded into the physical objects and structures in order to make urban functions more efficient and consequently improve the quality of people’s life (Lee 2009, p. 11).

Digital city

A digital city is a community digital space, which is used to facilitate and augment the activities and functions taking place within the physical space of the city (Komninos 2006, p. 15).

Smart community

A community in which government, business, and residents understand the potential of information technology, and make a conscious decision to use that technology to transform life and work in their region in significant and positive ways (Lindskog 2004, p. 13).

Informational city

The informational city consists of creative clusters and spaces for personal contacts to stimulate sharing of implicit information (Stock 2011, p. 963).

Creative economy & knowledge-based society

Intelligent city

Intelligent cities and regions are territories with high capacity for learning and innovation, which is built-in the creativity of their population, their institutions of knowledge creation, and their digital infrastructure for communication and knowledge management (Komninos 2006, p. 13).

Creative city

Broadly, creative cities is about how local urban spaces can be re-imagined, rejuvenated, and re-purposed within a competitive global framework (Tay 2004, p. 220).

Knowledge city

A knowledge city is a place where new knowledge is constantly being created. An entire social system is devoted to produce, share and apply knowledge, which in turn, can be leveraged and exploited by companies and organisations (Ergazakis, Metaxiotis, and Psarras 2004, p. 79).

Innovative city

Innovative city is an urban development pattern, in which we solve the city problem with creative solutions to achieve urban renaissance, and employ innovation as a driver of sustainable urban development. (Lu et al. 2011, p. 2)

Sustainability

Sustainable city

A sustainable city is one in which the community has agreed on a set of sustainability principles and has further agreed to pursue their attainment. These principles should provide the citizenry with a good quality of life, in a liveable city, with affordable education, healthcare, housing, and transportation (Munier 2007, p. 43).

Eco-city

An eco-city is an ecologically healthy city. It is a healthy human ecological process leading to sustainable development within the carrying capacity of local ecosystems through changes in the production mode, consumption behaviour and decision instruments based on ecological economics and systems engineering (Wang and Ye 2004, p. 341).

Zero-carbon city

A ‘zero-carbon city’ is a city that entirely runs on renewable energy and hence produces no carbon footprint (Yigitcanlar and Lee 2014, p. 101).

Human infrastructure

Human smart city

Application of citizen-centric and participatory approaches to the co-design, development, and production of smart cities services that balance the technical ‘smartness’ of sensors, meters, and infrastructures with softer features such as clarity of vision, citizen empowerment, social interaction in physical urban settings, and public-citizens partnership (Rizzo et al. 2013, p. 677).

Humane city

Places and environments where people enjoy everyday life and work have multiple opportunities to exploit their human potential and lead a creative life (Streitz 2011, p. 429).

Learning city

A learning city, town or region recognises and understands the key role of learning in the development of basic prosperity, social stability and personal fulfilment, and mobilises all its human, physical, and financial resources creatively and sensitively to develop the full human potential of all its citizens (Longworth 1999, p. 4).