Residents’ awareness and knowledge of sustainable smart cities

Abstract

Sustainable and smart city studies are issues that local governments, business circles, and the academic community often deal with regarding city and neighborhood developments. Various grant calls and research studies on the subject are frequently made, and its importance in the professional field is increasing. However, in these studies, where the society stands is often questioned. In addition, consumers and users are critical to realizing a sustainable and energy-efficient world. These users and consumers can be defined as an urban society in cities. Awareness, knowledge, and participation of city residents about sustainable and smart cities will play a significant role in the city’s journey to be sustainable and smart. In other words, increasing society’s awareness of sustainability will change attitudes and habits and make the city’s structure more sustainable and smarter. In this study, A 28-question survey was conducted with 518 participants on the society’s perspective and knowledge of sustainable smart urban areas. It was found that the participants had general knowledge and awareness of sustainability. However, they had partial and little knowledge about sustainable urban development and smart city practices, and only 15.31% of the participants knew all the terms such as sustainable environment, sustainable society, and smart life related to these concepts. While some of the results are compatible with each other, many of them are contradictory. Different studies can be done based on these contradictions.