Smart Cities’ beneficiary applications and impact: from citizens’ point of view – The use case of Greek and Cypriot citizens.

Abstract

The 21st century is considered to be “the century of cities”. By the end of this century, over 80% of the global population is expected to be living in urban areas. Overpopulation has already transformed from an upcoming challenge to an obvious problem. Gradually, this leads to many other global challenges and concerns, such as energy overconsumption, climate changes, resource constraints, and air pollution. To cope with all these challenges, the concept of sustainable urban development emerged through the "Smart City" concept development to define urban planning significantly. The “Smart City” concept constitutes the precursor of sustainable development. Its main goal is to improve life in cities by using innovative and stateof-the-art technologies. To become smart, a city should develop an approach of services that will focus mainly on citizens to be the primary beneficiaries of the things that the Smart City can offer. The current thesis's primary purpose is to present the citizens' perception of the smart city concept and reveal Greek and Cypriot citizens' level of knowledge regarding a Smart City's actions, applications, and elements. Additionally, we aim to clarify whether Greek and Cypriot citizens have realized the importance, the positive impact, and the benefits that a “smart project” can offer in the city they live in. For the conduction of our quantitative research, we have opted for a questionnaire as a tool for collecting data. The participants were introduced to the objectives and the purpose of the questionnaire before filling it in. The questionnaire was directed and shared to Greek people who live in cities all over Europe. It was eventually filled in by a total of 545 adults respondents. Most of them were Greek citizens of Greece (415 in total) and Cyprus (108 in total). Also, a small number of Greek people who live in some other European countries participated (22 in total). In the beginning of this work, some general information about “Smart Cities” is presented. Furthermore, some emphasis is given to the active role that the citizens should have so that the offers of a smart city could positively impact their lives. Subsequently, several surveys and researches related to the current work are presented. These researches have taken place in cities from all over the world and present some relevant findings: a number of smart city benefits, the importance of citizen participation and ideas in a smart city project, feedback from citizens about the impact that the smart city actions have on their lives and, generally, the way that the people see a smart city. After this, a comprehensive reference to the definitions of “Sustainable Urban Development” and “Smart City” is presented. Moreover, the smart city’s six fundamental pillars are analyzed. The analysis of the current thesis’ quantitative research follows, which is related to the level of perception and knowledge that Greek citizens (mainly living in Greece and Cyprus) have regarding the “Smart City” concept and to the impact that the “Smart City” actions and applications have on their lives. A number of research questions that lead to exciting conclusions are also presented. Finally, the conclusions that emerged from the survey's statistical analysis and the answers to all the research questions are presented.