Post-war reconstruction (and large-scale post-disaster recovery) begins less with visionary urban form than with the restoration of continuity: people must be able to drink safe water, rely on stable power, and reach hospitals, markets, and jobs. This article argues that these three lifeline infrastructures—water and sanitation, electricity, and transport—also constitute the most practical “sequence” for building a future-oriented smart city. The key is to align digital technologies with a phased reconstruction logic: emergency response (days to weeks), interim restoration (months), and permanent rebuilding (years). For water and sanitation, the emergency priority is minimum safe supply and basic hygiene capacity, guided by humanitarian benchmarks and by demand mapping at critical nodes such as hospitals, shelters, and schools. Interim works emphasize isolation of damaged sections, temporary pumping and treatment, and continuous monitoring of pressure, leakage, and water quality to stabilize service. Permanent rebuilding should embed sensors and remote monitoring into operations and maintenance (O&M) and asset-management routines rather than treating “smart” as an add-on. For electricity, emergency measures focus on generators, fuel logistics, and load prioritization for critical facilities; interim solutions benefit from microgrids that can island during main-grid outages; and permanent upgrades require grid planning and operational modernization that can accommodate electrification and variable renewables. For transport, emergency actions re-establish passable routes for rescue and logistics; interim steps restore daily life through temporary transit and freight nodes; and permanent rebuilding targets vulnerable bottlenecks and network redundancy. Across all three sectors, the article concludes that “smartness” is not primarily advanced analytics but decision-ready data, controllability, and maintainable systems that strengthen O&M, coordination, and accountability across phases. In this sense, a smart city can credibly start from rubble—by making lifelines measurable, governable, and resilient from day one.
