How to Enhance Citizens' Sense of Gain in Smart Cities? A SWOT-AHP-TOWS Approach

Dezhi Li; Wentao Wang; Guanying Huang; Shenghua Zhou; Shiyao Zhu; Haibo Feng

doi:10.1007/s11205-022-03047-9

How to Enhance Citizens' Sense of Gain in Smart Cities? A SWOT-AHP-TOWS Approach

Soc Indic Res. 2023;165(3):787-820. doi: 10.1007/s11205-022-03047-9. Epub 2022 Dec 13.

Authors

Dezhi Li¹, Wentao Wang¹, Guanying Huang¹, Shenghua Zhou¹, Shiyao Zhu², Haibo Feng³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Construction and Real Estate, School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210018 China.
² School of Transportation and Civil Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong, 226007 China.
³ Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.

Abstract

The previous technology-centric development of smart cities mainly focuses on the numbers, diversities, and types of applied intelligent technologies, while the citizen-centric smart city has become an important paradigm for improving the sustainability of cities around the world. The citizens' sense of gain (CSG), which considers both material acquisition and spiritual feelings of smart city services, is thus proposed and regarded as one of the core orientations in the smart cities' transformation development process from the centric of advanced technology applied to the centric of citizen subjective perception. To shift smart cities from being technology-centric to citizen-centric, it is critical to identify the factors influencing CSG and develop appropriate strategies to enhance CSG in smart cities. Hence, this work identifies 17 key CSG influencing factors based on the dimensions dissected from the definition of CSG and it further formulates 15 strategies for enhancing CSG by adopting the SWOT-AHP-TOWS method based on data collected from Nanjing citizens. The results indicate that the most important criteria for enhancing CSG in smart cities are the external opportunities, which are originated from citizens' attitudes and behaviors, and the top-ranked strategy is "dividing smart infrastructure into different categories according to the hierarchy needs of citizens and promoting the synergy development of smart infrastructure within and among different categories". Finally, four implications are proposed, including (i) strengthening publicity and encouraging citizen participation, (ii) clarifying the responsibilities of local governments, (iii) prioritizing citizens' needs, and (iv) promoting age-friendly, vulnerable-friendly, and environmental-friendly development.

Keywords: China; Citizen-centric; Citizens’ sense of gain; Influencing factor; SWOT-AHP-TOWS; Smart city.

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