Several applications and services have been developed over the latest years for making houses smarter in terms of danger prevention, energy consumption, waste recycling, environmental monitoring and other life improvement implementations. Internet-of-Things (IoT) gave numerous possibilities decentralizing the control of smart homes. Numerous sensors and developed systems or services can all communicate via smart devices like smartphones. A continuously broaden interest arises from local and national authorities for the benefits of applying IoT strategies in whole cities. With main focus on energy and water consumption, cities can reduce significantly their costs and become environmentally and economically sustainable. In the transition from smart homes to smart cities serious challenges should be take into consideration including a human-centric approach and the beneficiary involvement of the citizens for local and national authorities. The design of an IoT strategy for smart cities is a multifaceted procedure which includes the study of economic, urban, demographic and geographical indicators. In this paper, empirical evidence from selected case studies are presented.

1. FROM SMART HOMES TO SMART
CITIES: AN APPROACH BASED ON
INTERNET-OF-THINGS
A. TALAVARI1, C. PETROPOULOS1, A.
FOTOPOULOS2
1. B.SC., COMPUTER SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGICAL
EDUCATION INSTITUTE OF PIRAEUS
2. M.SC., INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDICINE AND
BIOLOGY, NATIONAL AND KAPODISTRIAN UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS

2. A DEFINITION OF SMART HOMES
“A dwelling incorporating a communications network
that connects the key electrical appliances and
services, and allows them to be remotely
controlled, monitored or accessed” (l. Jiang
Et.Al., 2004)

4. TECHNOLOGIES BEHIND SMART HOMES

5. BENEFITS OF SMARTHOMES
Security
• Smart security systems do a better job of preventing intrusions and home invasions
Energy Conservation
• Regulated light usage, monitoring heating &,cooling, and ensuring appliances are used when
needed
Elderly Care
• Helping monitoring medications, call 911, and track caloric intake
Entertainment
• Television will display online activity and residents are able to listen music in any room
Benefits of a Smart Home, Ebay, 2013

6. Smart
Cities
Homes
Parking
GridCommunication
Transportation

7. SMART TRANSPORTATION
• Economical, clean &
environmental friendly cars.
• Urban car sharing fleets
located near public transport
hubs
• Supplement public
transportation systems
Rich Maltzman, 2010

8. SMART PARKING
• Smartphone Apps can eliminate scenarios of
circling city blocks looking for a parking
space
• Users can locate, reserve and pay for
unoccupied parking spaces on their phones
or through their car’s navigation systems
• Ultimately, the concept can help cities better
meet demand for parking while at the same
time control urban congestion
Streetline, 2011

9. SMART COMMUNICATIONS
• Holyoke, Massachusetts teamed with
Cisco in an attempt to transform the
town into a smart and connected
community
• Cisco’s to deliver urban services with a
goal of generating new economic
opportunities, improving education and
bolstering population retention
• Cisco is working with police and fire
departments to roll out an integrated
radio interoperability system

10. SMART GRIDS
 A smart grid is a modernized electrical grid
 Analogue & digital technology to gather
and act on information, such as information
about the behaviors of suppliers and
consumers
 Can improve the
efficiency, reliability, economics, and
sustainability of the production and
distribution of electricity

11. THE EVOLUTION OF SMART CITIES
• New cities, built smart from the start: these cities are designed to
attract businesses and residents with a master plan that uses ICT to
deliver efficient citizen benefit services.
• Existing cities made smart, smartization: This partial approach (step
by step; with retrofits and upgrades) is followed by most cities.
• Purpose-driven cities: These are cities established with special
purposes, e.g., industrial cities, science towns, etc.
ITU-T, 2013

12. CITIES TRYING TO BE SMART
• Chicago
• Rio de Janeiro
• Stockholm
• Boston
• Barcelona
• Hong Kong
• Seoul
• Lyon
• Eindhoven
• Vienna
• Aarhus
• Amsterdam
• Cairo
• Dubai
• Edinburgh
• Trikala
• And many more

13. INDUSTRY
Industry Initiatives:
• Cisco: Smart+Connected Communities
• Siemens: Green Cities
• IBM: Smarter Planet
• GE: Masdar Smart City
• Toshiba: Smart Community
ITU-T, 2013

14. RISKS CONCERNING SMART CITIES
• Human Over-population
• Quality of Life
• Human Identity
• Black Outs
• Security
• Privacy
• Lack of Standards
• Constant evolution
• Best-practice methodologies are
yet to be developed
• Costs

15. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME