A Study on Determinant Factors in Smart City Development: An Analytic Hierarchy Process Analysis

Abstract

Today, there are many discussions and guidelines on the issue of smart cities (meaning cities that introduced smart technology) from the perspective of traditional urban policy. Smart city policies focusing on technology have been criticized for eliminating the different levels of factors that surround smart cities. When governments fail to consider different factors in implementing smart policies, they might not effectively provide quality services to citizens, because smart cities involve not only technical elements, but also the complex elements surrounding them (e.g., the policy ecosystem and urban infrastructure). This exploratory study examines the determinants of smart cities and their priorities through an analytic hierarchy process analysis. In this study, the priority internal factors appeared in the order of citizen involvement, leadership, and infrastructure, and the priority external factors took the order of political will, stakeholders, and the fourth Industrial Revolution. In addition, this study shows that the presence of communication channels, public hearings, and direct stakeholders is important for analyzing each sub-factor.