Smart City

An urban area that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the quality and efficiency of city services, infrastructure, and governance. In accessibility contexts, smart city technologies — including real-time public transit tracking, connected infrastructure, sensor networks, and location-based services — can significantly benefit people with disabilities by providing accessible information about the urban environment. However, smart city initiatives often fail to consider accessibility in their design, creating digital services that exclude the very populations who would benefit most. Accessible smart city design requires ensuring that transit information, wayfinding systems, environmental sensors, and citizen services are usable by people with diverse disabilities through multiple modalities (audio, tactile, visual).