Time for cities to be smart

Pollution control, industrial restructuring, balanced regional development and advanced technologies - these are a few of the ways to establish a "smart city", a French official said on Tuesday.

"Pollution is the greatest problem, impacting not only the health of all residents in the city, but also the city's economic environment," said Patrick Devedjian, president of the General Council of the French department of Hauts-de-Seine. "We need to take measures to contain carbon emissions."

He suggested that large factories, as heavy polluters, be transferred to under-populated areas, which is "opposite to what people used to do throughout history".