Health Care in Cities Perceived as Smart in the Context of Population Aging—A Record from Poland

Abstract

Population aging is a global problem affecting many modern economies. Thus, the article attempts to answer the following research questions: What demographic trends characterize cities considered smart, and is the health care offered by these cities adapted to the changes identified in this regard? In other words, can seniors feel safe now and in the near future? In search of an answer to such a question, data as well as demographic and health indicators were used from 16 Polish voivodeship cities mostly considered smart or aspiring to that title. The analysis covered the years 2010–2020. The results indicate a systematic aging of all surveyed urban communities. However, it is progressing at a rather different pace. Unfortunately, not all cities are adjusting the level of health care (medical and nursing staff and hospital infrastructure) to the needs of the growing number of seniors, which—in the future—may exacerbate regional and local medical and social problems. The analysis also shows that the best-performing cities in terms of health care development are Warsaw, Białystok, Kraków and Rzeszów—the units most often identified in international rankings as smart. Their “smartness” in this case lies in forward-looking management that takes into account the aging of the urban community in the process of developing medical care.

Municipal Waste Management in Polish Cities—Is It Really Smart?

“…The above observations confirm the objections of opponents of the development of Smart City [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] concepts regarding their negative impact on the environment [8][9][10], which in this case is related not only to the accumulation of waste, but also to the need to increase the scale of its storage or processing, which entails further environmental consequences (CO 2 ; soil and water pollution). In the development of the Smart City concept, environmental aspects are given a lot of attention.…”

“…The average annual rate of change in the volume of municipal waste per capita for all the provincial cities studied was 1.10%, which means that the problem of garbage generation is steadily increasing. Only in 5 out of 16 surveyed units the volume of municipal waste was decreasing (Katowice, Olsztyn, Szczecin, Łódź and Rzeszów), which was also due to the depopulation of these cities and the rapid rate of aging in urban communities [41]. It was therefore not directly related to improvements in municipal waste management.…”

Measuring and Assessing the Level of Living Conditions and Quality of Life in Smart Sustainable Cities in Poland—Framework for Evaluation Based on MCDM Methods

“…As [98] points out, future Polish cities-as well as the Polish economy-will face a shortage of qualified nurses (needed to care for seniors) and a shrinking number of hospital beds as a result of an aging population. This problem is evident in all highly developed countries of the world [104].…”

Geociências: Desenvolvimento científico, tecnológico e econômico 3

“…Alguns dos benefícios dessa tecnologia são as atualizações automatizadas das estatísticas gerais e expansão dos serviços á comunidade (BRÍGITTE; COSTA; BACILI, 2021). No campo da saúde pública, um serviço de emergência mais eficiente e organizado, em particular, pode otimizar o decurso de resposta, e a virtualização impulsionada por gêmeos digitais ajuda a simular eventos como deslizamentos de terra causadas por temporais, enchentes, ou um rompimento de baragens, que exigem resposta rápida dos serviços de emergência, e estas simulações deve promover em uma resposta mais eficiente ao processo (JONEK-KOWALSKA, 2022;SINGH et al, 2021).…”