Transforming urban slums: Pathway to functionally intelligent cities in developing countries

Cities in developing countries are increasingly under stress through urbanization, which leads to the expansion of slum areas or informal settlements due to demand for low-cost housing. This chapter presents the social, environmental, and economic realities facing slum dwellers and discusses their redevelopment into intelligent cities. The concept of 'function accompanying intelligent' is introduced for the transformation of slums to functional intelligent cities. In this context, a city is intelligent if it serves both the functional and social needs of its entire population. The chapter overviews an approach to integrated data collection, data analytics, and user access to information. Geospatial analysis of demographic, economic, social, and environmental data is introduced to help delineate slums, and to monitor the outcomes of urban planning initiatives and the progress of social wellbeing. The city of Accra in Ghana is discussed as a potential slum city to functional intelligent city transformation.