Smart cities: Economic dimensions of their evolution

Abstract

Introduction. With the increase in urban population and the growth of citizens’ expectations, the development of smart cities – with the support and integration of digital technologies – should become one of the greatest achievements of humanity in the 21st century.

Cities on our planet, from small regional communities to global mega-hubs, from the most ancient cities to the modern ones, focus on developing and implementing smart city initiatives to make them more efficient, sustainable, attractive to citizens and stimulate economic growth.

Methods. Comparative and critical analysis was used to identify patterns of smart city generations formation and to find the problems of their functioning in different corners of our planet. Additionally, the mentioned methods and the method of modeling helped us to highlight the components of the concept presented through the drawing and enabled the visual presentation of its generations’ characteristics in the table.

Results. The essence of the concept of “smart city”, its theoretical and applied aspects are considered. The main characteristics of the smart cities generations are defined as an innovative model for managing the socio-economic development of large cities. The most successful projects of smart city іmplementation in the world in such cities as Santander, Songdo, Masdar, Rio de Janeiro and Singapore are analyzed. It is proved that smart city is a modern model of urban transformation with the use of information and communication technologies for solving the most complex problems and development of innovations, active involvement of the citizens in the transformation process. It is a place where conditions for the development of the community and every person are created as a key driving force in fostering economic and social growth in which information technologies allow to change qualitatively the management system.

Discussion. The prospects for further development of the study are to explore the experience of implementing Generation 3.0 in the top world smart cities and ways of its introduction in Ukraine, as this is the key to the economic uplift and social progress of the world.