Many cities or metropolises located in developed and developing countries are asking themselves the question of their modernization. The concept of the “Smart City” has emerged in recent years with the idea that computer science and artificial intelligence could be the foundation of their evolution. Dr. Carlo Ratti of MIT says that a smart city is “technological, interconnected, clean, attractive, comforting, efficient, open, collaborative, creative, digital and green”. In any case, behind this question lies the question of the training of people likely to lead to such changes. Such a training would be at Master’s level.

As a city brings together many functions (housing, jobs, services, transport, education, etc.), a systemic approach will be the basis of this training. In other words, the themes to be taught must cover all these aspects with their interrelationships, far from the classic “urban engineering”. For example, the fight against pollution involves training in transport, health aspects, green spaces, regulatory aspects, the police, etc. Among these themes, it should be noted that the majority takes up the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Among these foundations, we can mention information and communication technologies such as artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, sensors, the Internet of Things and of street furniture, data analysis, databases, information systems, knowledge extraction, intelligent document management, digital twins of cities (City Digital Twins).

Beyond the themes of smart city training, it is important to train trainers. To this end, international partnerships should emerge, and many doctoral theses will have to be launched immediately.