The technological interventions in everyday processes has led to the rise of Smart ecosystems where all aspects of everyday life like governance, transportation, agriculture, logistics, maintenance, education and healthcare are automated in some way or the other and can be controlled, managed and accessed remotely with the help of smart devices. This has led to the concept of Smart cities where Information Communication and Technology (ICT) is merged with the existing traditional infrastructure of a city which is then coordinated and managed using digital technology. This idea of smart cities is slowly but surely coming into reality as many countries around the globe are adopting this idea and coming up with their own model of smart cities. At the core of smart city lies the sensors and actuators embedded in the smart devices that sense the environment for facilitating effective decision making. The microcontrollers available in these devices are programmed to take decisions automatically based on the information received from the sensors. This involves integration of several information and communication technologies like artificial intelligence, protocols, Internet of things (IoT), wireless sensor network (WSN) etc. This paper discusses and extensively reviews the role of enabling technologies in smart cities. The paper further highlights the challenges and limitations in the development of smart cities along with the mitigation strategies. Specifically, three categories of challenges are identified namely technical, socio-economic and environmental giving specifics of each category. Finally, some of the best practices for attaining sustainable smart cities are provided.

日常流程中的技术干预导致了智能生态系统的兴起，该系统在日常生活中的各个方面（如治理，运输，农业，物流，维护，教育和医疗保健）都以某种方式实现了自动化，并且可以进行控制，管理和访问借助智能设备进行远程控制。这导致了智能城市的概念，其中信息通信和技术（ICT）与城市的现有传统基础设施合并，然后使用数字技术进行协调和管理。随着全球许多国家正在采用这种想法并提出自己的智能城市模型，这种智能城市的想法正在慢慢地但必将实现。智慧城市的核心是嵌入在智能设备中的传感器和执行器，它们感应环境以促进有效的决策。这些设备中可用的微控制器经过编程，可以根据从传感器接收到的信息自动做出决定。这涉及多种信息和通信技术的集成，例如人工智能，协议，物联网（IoT），无线传感器网络（WSN）等。本文讨论并广泛审查了智能技术中支持技术的作用。本文进一步强调了智慧城市发展的挑战和局限性以及缓解策略。具体来说，确定了三类挑战，即技术挑战，每个类别的社会经济和环境特征。最后，提供了一些实现可持续智慧城市的最佳实践。