Integrating the concept of smart city in order to manage air pollution

Global warming is momentarily the biggest threat to the Earth. The temperature on earth today is by 1.4 degrees hotter than a century before, and the last decade were recorded the hottest years in its history. Meanwhile the major cause to global warming is air pollution. During the last years, there was recorded also the biggest amount of air pollution in many cities of the world, in surprisingly several Balkan cities also, including Skopje, Tetovo, Prishtina, Sarajevo. We meet these cities within the top polluted cities list, with the highest recorded pollution being in the winter season. In the meantime, in January 2015, in Macedonia there was promoted a smart phone application called Мој Воздух (My Air), which shows the level of air pollution in real time in the major cities of the country. It made a big impact on raising awareness among the people, who started to ask the government to take measures and find solutions. At the same time the application keeps track of the electoral promises of Skopje’s mayor and their completion. Bearing in mind this little step and the previously mentioned global threat makes us consider the opportunities of a smartly functioning country or smart cities. This paper aims to respond to the following questions: What are the principles and examples of a smart city? Is it necessary to have certain infrastructural or other preconditions in order to integrate those principles in a city? Would those principles be applicable even in developing countries such as those in the Balkan? Are there any governmental or nongovernmental measures being taken for that purpose, even if unintentional or indirect to the cause of smart cities? What could be done