Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smart city performance in Europe

Abstract

Today's global shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the current war conflict, raise serious challenges to cities. Smart cities, as engines of innovation, can respond to these shocks and show resilience. However, there are significant differences in the performance of smart cities around the world, which have been further widened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In our study, we use the IMD smart city index to examine how the pandemic has affected European smart cities and how their ranking has changed in a global comparison. The results suggest that there have been major shifts in their rankings, and that some of the differences in the performance of individual cities during the pandemic can be traced back to different urban governance models. The changes in the ranking of smart cities highlight the fact that different urban governance models operate differently in times of crisis, especially in terms of measurable short- and long-term effectiveness. These results highlight the importance of complex and combined urban governance models to deal effectively and flexibly with external shocks.

Methodologies for Measuring Mobility in Covid-19 Research

“…Ogromna liczba ludzi wykonywała swoją pracę w miejscu zamieszkania. Pod presją zagrożenia pandemią liczba pracowników zdalnych radykalnie wzrosła (Radziukiewicz, 2021), jednak wiele osób straciło pracę, zwłaszcza w obszarach metropolitalnych (Szendi, Sárosi-Blága 2022). Nauka zdalna stała się niemal powszechna, lokale gastronomiczne i rozrywkowe również napotkały wiele ograniczeń w swojej działalności.…”

“…The pandemic, and the measures taken by governments worldwide, have radically changed everyday habits, including mobility. Crowds of people were working from home; the number of remote workers has increased dramatically under the pressure of the pandemic threat (Radziukiewicz, 2021), but many have also faced job losses in metropolitan areas (Szendi, Sárosi-Blága 2022). Distance learning has become almost commonplace, catering and entertainment establishments also faced many restrictions -these changes significantly affected human mobility and transportation; research about the city of Santander (Aloi et al, 2020) shows that the city's internal mobility has decreased by 76%.…”

Smart Cities and Sustainability in Central-Eastern Europe

“…In At the same time, the speed and form of responses to changing global trends and shocks may also differ, due to the different governance models of cities. The application of a top-down urban governance model and a bottom-up approach to shocks may not be equally successful, as demonstrated by the response to the impact of the Covid19 epidemic especially in terms of their short-and long-term measurable effectiveness (Szendi & Sárosi-Blága, 2022). In the first period of the pandemics, some cities could improve their position with a bottom-up and co-creation approach, while in the second year of the pandemics, cities that had worked well in the short term with bottom-up management (Amsterdam, Helsinki) has lost ground, while top-down strategies were a more effective way of dealing with the crisis in the longer term (Szendi & Sárosi-Blága, 2022).…”

“…The application of a top-down urban governance model and a bottom-up approach to shocks may not be equally successful, as demonstrated by the response to the impact of the Covid19 epidemic especially in terms of their short-and long-term measurable effectiveness (Szendi & Sárosi-Blága, 2022). In the first period of the pandemics, some cities could improve their position with a bottom-up and co-creation approach, while in the second year of the pandemics, cities that had worked well in the short term with bottom-up management (Amsterdam, Helsinki) has lost ground, while top-down strategies were a more effective way of dealing with the crisis in the longer term (Szendi & Sárosi-Blága, 2022). Duggal (2020) argues that top-down planning should be combined with multi-level, integrated urban governance to respond effectively and flexibly to urban shocks (e.g., pandemics) and to ensure long-term sustainability.…”

Investigating the Public Acceptance of Autonomous Delivery Vehicles in Hungary

“…Emerging technologies can have a major impact on the development of cities (Szendi et al, 2022;Gábor, 2022). A dynamically increasing number of autonomous vehicles are present on the streets of more and more cities under the banner of more and more development companies worldwide: in California in 2022, the vehicles travelled 9.2 million kilometers miles, which was 1.6 million kilometers more compared to the base period (2021), in autonomous mode with 28% more test vehicles with a decreasing need for human intervention (DMV, 2023).…”