The questionability of holistic smart city design - Elaborating the integration of social dimensions within the smart city concept

Abstract

The paper focuses on interdisciplinary approaches in development of smart cities. Smart cities have become a popular conceptual framework to emphasize the usefulness of technology driven developmental projects that are most commonly operating in a public-private environment. Regardless of the formal (declarative) presence of user-centred methods in smart cities, it is important to mention that smart city concepts have originated from the technological and economic domain thus stressing the technological side of innovative solutions limited to solving very specific problems in rather limited territorial contexts. Seen from this perspective the paper elaborates the potential development of a more socially centred versions of smart cities approaches, which tend to focus more on social innovation, greater civic involvement and take into account the tacit specifics of local context in order to engage stakeholders into co-creation of value in their community. The dilemma of holistic socio-technological smart city approach will be explored through the comparison of various cases of smart cities and potentially provide orientation for the development of new modes and models of communication, understanding and cooperation between various stakeholders included in the process of smart city formation.