Abstract
A smart city aims to become a citizen-centered city where citizens actively engage in urban operation and share urban data within a high-tech ICT infrastructure. It premises ‘smart citizens’ who can understand and utilize digital technology to adapt well to the various infrastructure of smart cities. In reality, however, not only tech-savvy citizens but those who are not likely to coexist in a smart city. Disadvantaged groups with relatively insufficient awareness and the necessity of technologies might be excluded from smart cities’ various benefits. The smart city innovations need to encompass diverse social groups’ engagements to claim their legitimacy and sustainability from a long-term perspective. In this light, this study examines the potential digital divide in the advanced technologies used in the emerging 5G smart city era. Using survey data, we investigate if the smart citizens’ social and technical readiness in terms of the use experience and necessity of new technologies can predict the adoption and use of the emerging 5G smart city innovations. The empirical results from this study can inform the digital divide between the general public and technology-disadvantaged groups. The findings can also guide policymakers in prioritizing technologies that are accessible and beneficial to all potential residents of smart cities in the future. Finally, the results yield specific policy implications for practitioners who design more inclusive and sustainable smart cities in the 5G era.
Highlights
We examine whether the influence of gender, which had been considered a significant factor resulting in the digital divide but has recently been reduced, affects the experience of using new technologies expected to apply to smart cities
We examine the effects of independent variables in socio-demographic factors, digital literacy, and a necessity factor
This study explored the potential digital divide as a risk to existing smart cities where many new technologies will be utilized based on the 5G network
Summary
The public sector has been paying attention to smart cities as an effective and sustainable approach to addressing urban challenges’ broad scope [1]. A smart city, conceptualized in diverse ways in the literature, can be generally understood as an innovative city that uses advanced technologies to improve the city’s services and operations, thereby, enhancing the quality of citizens’ lives [2]. Smart city infrastructure utilizes cutting-edge ICTs and seeks a citizen-centered city that necessitates collaborative governance-urban managers to engage citizens. Citizens have to engage in their governance for the truly thriving smart city [3]. Citizens act as actual customers of smart city services and co-producers to engage in urban issues by voting and producing, delivering, and monitoring [3,4,5]. Citizens are regarded as a fundamental dimension of smart cities [6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
