Does City Smartness Improve Urban Environment and Reduce Income Disparity? Evidence from an Empirical Analysis of Major Cities Worldwide

Dashkevych, Oleg and Portnov, Boris A. (2024) Does City Smartness Improve Urban Environment and Reduce Income Disparity? Evidence from an Empirical Analysis of Major Cities Worldwide. KEEP ON PLANNING FOR THE REAL WORLD. Climate Change calls for Nature-based Solutions and Smart Technologies. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2024, 29th International Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 219-233. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

Urban policymakers often advertise their cities as smart, emphasizing the wide–scale adoption of internet technologies, innovation activities, and the number of universities the city hosts as proof of successful transition towards greater smartness. Question, however, remains whether the accumulation of these attributes results in tangible benefits for local residents. To answer this question, we compare different metrices of city smartness with several indicators of intra–urban income disparity and environmental performance, using data available for 100+ major cities worldwide. As the analysis indicates, the proliferation of internet technologies and the number of universities the city hosts, i.e., popular ways of advancing “smartness”, are not related to either intra–urban income disparity or environmental performance of cities per se. We thus suggest that the transition of cities towards greater smartness should be focused on people's needs and ICT-using skills, not on ICT proliferation per se. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first that links the level of city smartness with intra–urban income inequality and environmental performance of cities and substantiates these links empirically. By accumulating this knowledge, the study helps to understand better the smart city phenomenon and its impact on urban development.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: smart cities, social inequalities, environmental quality, planning, worldwide
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
Depositing User: REAL CORP Administrator
Date Deposited: 25 Apr 2024 19:44
Last Modified: 25 Apr 2024 19:44
URI: http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/1088

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