Teaching Experiences in Academia to Understand the Impact of Smart Cities

One of the key technologies transforming cities into smart cities is the Internet of Things or IoT. Nevertheless, there are reasons to believe that third parties, such as authorities, citizens, and companies, do not really understand what IoT and other enabling technologies bring to them. Instead, they live in a continuum of delivering vertical (final services) one after another where technology is the driver. As higher education practitioners, we have the responsibility of training future professionals so that they can explore and explain what smart cities bring in a more citizen-centric way. This article accounts experiences in teaching and research aimed at this goal. We summarize the expertise of three universities in Spain: the School of Urban Studies of the Politechnic University of Madrid, the Computer Science School of the Complutense University of Madrid, and the University of Malaga. This view is complemented with a discussion of other higher education training options focused on smart cities. The analysis of these higher education titles (degrees and Master's) is that they are highly influenced by technology. Frequently, teaching staff and/or course attendants have a technical background. More social sciences involvement is necessary to have a broader perspective on smart cities.