An Overview of ‘Intelligent’ and ‘Smart’ Approaches in the Context of Buildings

The world has experienced an unprecedented period of technological development over the past decade, largely as a result of continuous improvements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and, more recently, the powerful impetus provided by remarkable advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI). The impact on buildings has been significant, particularly via monitoring, automation, digitalisation and intelligence - the latter a word often used interchangeably with ‘smart’. It therefore seems important to separate and clarify the existing approaches to ‘intelligent’ and ‘smart’ within a framework that is also consistent with the scope of Building Maintenance Management (BMM). The aim is to provide a detailed and up-to-date picture of the situation. A broad literature review provided the basis for the research strategy. The article reports on some approaches already important in industry today and increasingly applied to the built environment. AI, Intelligent Materials (IM) and Intelligent Buildings (IB) are briefly addressed under the heading ‘intelligent’. From ‘smart’, in turn, terms such as Smart Technologies (ST), Smart Systems (SS), Smart Sensors (SSe), Smart Materials (SMa), Smart Infrastructures (SI), Smart Environments (SE), Smart Homes (SH), Smart Buildings (SB), Smart Cities (SC), Smart Facilities Management (SFM) and Smart Maintenance (SM) can be derived. Overall, the results seem to indicate that the ‘intelligent’ approach emphasises not only technology but also sustainability, adaptability and interaction between users and the built environment, while ‘smart’ is being widely used, and focuses on the application of advanced technologies, connectivity and data analytics to optimise building operations and management.