A city-wide communication network capable of supporting a range of applica- tions should be established through the use of wireless sensor networks that collect, analyze, and act on data in order to provide solutions for smart city im- plementation. A smart city network confronts a number of obstacles, including changing the network's coverage area to accommodate different applications, non-uniform node distribution, an increase in message volume, the use of multi- ple communication technologies, and node and message heterogeneity. Numer- ous aspects of smart cities are being investigated, with a few applications being developed in each. This article conducts a survey to describe various sensor network choices for smart cities. The research explores message transmission challenges via the lens of applications such as taxi sharing, ambulance services, and other emergency services that rely on real-time traffic data provided by the smart traffic domain to work successfully. Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are employed in a range of areas due to its advantage in rapidly establishing networks. The network will perform ideally if mobile nodes collaborate and trust one another; hence, message transmission for this service, as well as the utility of MANET routing algorithms, are examined.