President Erdoğan: On the one hand, we will opt for investments in line with our cities’ newly-emerging needs, and on the other, preserve our history, culture and civilization

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the Smart Cities Congress in Ankara.

Warning that cities which fail to go beyond the age are doomed to lose their attractiveness, President Erdoğan said: “On the one hand, we will opt for investments in line with our cities’ newly-emerging needs, and on the other, preserve our history, culture and civilization. It is irrelevant whether a city is smart or not unless it is age-, women-, child-, and disabled-friendly and serenity prevails on its avenues round the clock. Cities which lack character, don’t prioritize people and are not bedecked with abodes of science, wisdom and arts cannot be smart.”

Noting that the concept of smart city came into existence in the 1990s, President Erdoğan stated: “This approach, which can be described in the simplest terms as the application of technology to cities, has become increasingly more widespread and popular. Even though they all use similar information technologies, smart city practices might vary according to each city’s or each country’s individual needs, means and infrastructure. As such, we, as Turkey, have launched works to develop our own smart city strategies.”