A critical approach to the evolution of planning smart cities

Abstract

The twenty-year history of the smart city planning paradigm permits us to draw some conclusions about the concept’s overall evolution. This article aims to scrutinize three distinguished periods in the development of the smart city planning process. Our methodology was based on taking into account the dominant discourses unfolding in the international literature on smart cities over the last twenty years. Although there are no sharp distinctions between the periods, it is possible to discern certain stages in the development of the concept. These stages bear a remarkable resemblance to general phase transitions in urban planning that was first highly technical and based on engineers and technicians then turned more people-centred and now involves a wide range of professions and expertise. At the beginning of smart city development, scholars’ main goal was to find a definition for smart cities, which turned out to be much harder than it seemed at first. Our analysis recollects the main questions and dilemmas that emerged during this initial stage of the development of smart cities. This period, dominated by technology companies, was full of great expectations and the implications for smart cities proved to be highly exaggerated and over-optimistic. The focus was on technological solutions, rather than the specific needs of cities, characterized by a top-down developmental approach. The following critical period highlighted these errors precisely, as urbanists, sociologists and the academic sphere joined the conversation. This stage was about ‘sobering up’, trying to be more realistic about what technology companies can offer for the cities, beyond advertising slogans. The third stage of smart city planning, currently underway, offers an optimistic vision for the future. In this view, cities are at the centre of development, not technological solutions themselves. Several actors are involved in planning to find the best possible solutions for everyone.

The last part of the article attempts at illustrating the theoretical description through the presentation of the results of domestic research on the topic. The main lesson is that the smallest municipalities tend to be overburdened by the financial and human resource needs required to operate ICT tools and see little benefit from them as their main channels of information now are based on personal contacts. Larger municipalities, however, have greater needs and demands, mostly due to the higher share of impersonal connections and wider audience, but lack the capacity and the necessary technological, organisational and management background, which significantly hinder the appropriate application, especially in towns with more limited means. Due to their apparent ease of use and high accessibility, social platforms, primarily Facebook in Hungary, increasingly play the most important role in public relations. Negative experiences, especially in smaller settlements, nonetheless, have led to the limitation, or even elimination of feedback mechanisms of the information [ow and the most important forms of communication are still the municipal websites that allow one-way communication in most cases. The higher level of use depends primarily on the financial and human resources available, but the extent to which the local community perceives the need for development also appears to be a significant factor.