Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful technology with an increasing popularity and applications in areas ranging from marketing to banking and finance, from agriculture to healthcare and security, from space exploration to robotics and transport, and from chatbots to artificial creativity and manufacturing. Although many of these areas closely relate to the urban context, there is limited understanding of the trending AI technologies and their application areas—or concepts—in the urban planning and development fields. Similarly, there is a knowledge gap in how the public perceives AI technologies, their application areas, and the AI-related policies and practices of our cities. This study aims to advance our understanding of the relationship between the key AI technologies (n = 15) and their key application areas (n = 16) in urban planning and development. To this end, this study examines public perceptions of how AI technologies and their application areas in urban planning and development are perceived and utilized in the testbed case study of Australian states and territories. The methodological approach of this study employs the social media analytics method, and conducts sentiment and content analyses of location-based Twitter messages (n = 11,236) from Australia. The results disclose that: (a) digital transformation, innovation, and sustainability are the most popular AI application areas in urban planning and development; (b) drones, automation, robotics, and big data are the most popular AI technologies utilized in urban planning and development, and; (c) achieving the digital transformation and sustainability of cities through the use of AI technologies—such as big data, automation and robotics—is the central community discussion topic.
Highlights
Cities provide tangible and intangible infrastructures and platforms from which individuals are able to self-actualize, and create goods and services that further enhance the standards of living of the broader population [1]
Researchers are able to engage with people from broader geographic areas with the help of the location of social media users, which is tagged in their posts [53]
Compared to the other states and territories, the number of tweets received from NT was recorded as 55, which represented a negligible percentage of 0%
Summary
Cities provide tangible and intangible infrastructures and platforms from which individuals are able to self-actualize, and create goods and services that further enhance the standards of living of the broader population [1]. Technologies that leverage AI are currently being utilized in many cities across the globe, for example in Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vienna, and Toronto, to optimize their urban functionality and service efficiency [6,7]. The smart grid initiative acts as one of the foundations for the utilization of AI in cities; it facilitates spatial navigation in the form of interactive and automated systems that use data processing technology to reveal the dynamics of the urban grid. In this way, digitalization has enabled cities to identify specific needs, leading to increased productivity and economic performance [2]. AI offers an opportunity for enhanced city governance [8]; AI concepts and technologies can influence and improve the manner in which the city serves its citizens and provide everyone with the desired and responsible urban futures [9,10]
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