Social factors of sustainability for a smart city development

Abstract

Abstract Sustainable development of smart cities is based on the consideration of many areas of urban life in which the implementation of modern innovative technologies is taking place. Urban planning is aimed on providing citizens’` life and ensuring their daily needs in comfortable and safe living. The problem is that urban environment and the population must be ready to accept the idea of a smart city in order to organize its greatest efficiency. On the other hand, smart technologies should address both global and local challenges and threats to the urban environment in the wide range from environmental problems caused by climate change to the possibility of easy orientation and service search on city streets. The article proposes an approach to strategic urban planning of the environment based on a socially-oriented smart city model that combines social factors, their reflection in urban environment and defines the set of smart technologies that are in citizens’` demand. On the example of the Monirye district in Tehran, Iran the developed method is applied using analytical methods of SWOT and VMOSA analysis. This application provides a systematic approach for smart cities planning in accordance with the needs of the population and the existing level of development of the urban environment and to determine the strategic directions of its sustainable development in the interests of the population.