The 'Smart City' between urban narrative and empty signifier: the case of Hong Kong

Cole, Alistair; Tsun, Calvin Lai Ming; Stivas, Dionysios

doi:10.4337/9781800374454.00013

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“…This finding highlights communications and narrative-building as topic of growing relevance in smart cities research. Relatedly, Cole et al ( 2023 ) describe how a policy narrative acquires meaning through policy communications that have originality, sincerity, and extension or relevance to the ‘outside world.’ These elements provide a useful template for government communications strategies regarding the benefits of smart cities. It is crucial, however, to avoid what Arku et al ( 2022 ) label ‘smart city mirages’—a phenomenon in which communication efforts draw attention only to benefits and away from policy challenges.…”

Section: Policy Implications and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Perceptions About Smart Cities: Governance and Quality-of-Life in Hong Kong

Hartley

2023

Soc Indic Res

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This study analyzes public perceptions about the impact of ‘smart cities’ programs on governance and quality-of-life. With smart city scholarship focusing primarily on technical and managerial issues, political legitimacy remains relatively underexplored—particularly in non-Western contexts. Drawing on a Hong Kong-based survey of over 800 residents conducted in 2019, this study analyzes the results of probit regressions on dependent variables for governance (participation, transparency, public services, communication, and fairness) and quality-of-life (buildings, energy-environment, mobility-transportation, education, and health). Findings show more optimism about the impact of smart cities on quality-of-life than on governance. Awareness about the smart city concept associates positively with expectations about smart city benefits, but the effect is sensitive to education level and income. This study deepens understandings about the political legitimacy of smart cities, at a time when urban governments are accelerating investments in related technologies. More broadly, it adds contextual nuance to research about state-society relations and, at a practical level, supports policy recommendations to strengthen information and awareness campaigns, better articulate smart city benefits, and openly acknowledge limitations.

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Section: Policy Implications and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Perceptions About Smart Cities: Governance and Quality-of-Life in Hong Kong

Hartley

2023

Soc Indic Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The 'Smart City' between urban narrative and empty signifier: the case of Hong Kong

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Public Perceptions About Smart Cities: Governance and Quality-of-Life in Hong Kong

Public Perceptions About Smart Cities: Governance and Quality-of-Life in Hong Kong

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