PESTEL Analysis to Identify Key Barriers to Smart Cities Development in India

This study aims to examine the impact of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal (PESTEL) factors on event businesses in Malaysia. Using qualitative interpretive methods and data from in-depth interviews with 15 event managers, the study identified several external factors affecting event operations. The results show that political factors such as government policies, small business funding grants, and global trade agreements or restrictions can significantly impact event businesses. Economic factors such as exchange rates, labor costs, globalization, and economic growth or decline can also affect operations, while social factors such as consumer trends, tastes, buying habits, lifestyle factors, and population demographics can also play a role. Technological factors, including tools and technological advancements, incentives, and the widespread use of social media, are also identified as important. Moreover, environmental factors such as supply chain management, procurement, future pandemics, ethical sourcing, sustainable resources, weather and climate, risk assessment, multiracial sensitivity, and geographical location are found to impact event businesses as well. Finally, legal factors such as health and safety regulations, employment laws, common laws, and consumer protection laws can also affect event operations. Overall, this study highlights the importance of conducting PESTEL analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of external factors that can impact event businesses. By using this analysis, event managers can develop strategies to mitigate risks and adapt to the changing market conditions. The findings suggest that event managers must remain vigilant in monitoring and responding to political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors to ensure the success of their operations.

Purpose Smart cities are an attempt to recognize the pioneering projects designed to make the cities livable, sustainable, functional and viable. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate funding released by the government city wise and sources available for finance for the development of the smart cities. The impact of fund released by the government for the development of smart cities (Chandigarh, Karnal, Faridabad, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Delhi, Lucknow and Agra) in India has been studied in detail. Urbanization is a continuous process, which is taking place throughout the globe, especially in developing countries like India. Design/methodology/approach The research is descriptive in nature. The sources of funding for smart cities in India have been taken into consideration, and χ2 test of independence has been employed to study the impact of fund released by the government for smart city development in India by using IBM SPSS. Findings The total investment, area-based projects, pan-city initiatives and O&M costs for smart cities ranged between Rs 133,368 and Rs 203,979 lakh crores, Rs 105,621 and Rs 163,138 lakh crores, Rs 26,141 and Rs 38,840 lakh crores, and Rs 1,604 and Rs 1,999 lakh crores, respectively, in the year 2016 (for 60 smart cities) to 2017 (for 99 smart cities), which shows an increasing trend. The investment in retrofitting projects, redevelopment projects, greenfield projects and area-based projects ranged between Rs 94,419 and Rs 131,003 lakh crores, Rs 8,247 and Rs 23,119 lakh crores, Rs 2,955 and Rs 8,986 lakh crores, and Rs 105,621 and Rs 163,138 lakh crores, respectively, in the year 2016 (60 smart cities) to 2017 (99 smart cities), which shows the division of projects funding for smart city development in India. The funding released for smart city development such as other sources, loans from the financial institution, private investment, convergence, state government share funding and Central Government Funding ranged between Rs 14,828 and Rs 15,930 lakh crores, Rs 7,775 and Rs 9,795 lakh crores, Rs 30,858 and Rs 43,622 lakh crores, Rs 25,726 and Rs 43,088 lakh crores, Rs 27,260 and Rs 45,695 lakh crores, and Rs 29,207 and Rs 47,858 lakh crores, respectively, in the year 2016 (60 smart cities) to 2017 (99 smart cities), which reflects the different sources of funding for the development of smart cities in India. The χ2 test of independence has been applied, which shows that there is no impact of fund released by the government on cities for smart city development in India as the p-values of Chandigarh (0.213), Karnal (0.199), Faridabad (0.213), Pune (0.199), Chennai (0.213), Ahmadabad (0.199), Kanpur (0.199), Delhi (0.199), Kolkata, Lucknow (0.213) and Agra (0.199) are greater than 0.05. Research limitations/implications For the Smart Cities Mission to be financially sustainable, the right policy and institutional framework should be implemented for modernization and aggregation of government landholding. Consolidation of all the landholdings under the smart city project should be properly implemented, and the role of private sectors should be encouraged for public‒private partnership projects to make Smart City Mission more successful. Practical implications The benefits of smart cities development will help provide affordable, cleaner and greener housing infrastructure for all, especially the inclusive group of developers belonging to the lower middle-income strata of India, and the benefits will be replicated when adopted on a smaller scale in the rural part of the country. Originality/value The research paper is original and χ2 test has been used to study the impact of fund released by the government for smart city development in India.

Purpose: Bring to light the risks of smart cities and the perspectives of their management. It has been discovered that smart cities are created and developed under the impact of not only technological factors but also social factors. The connection between smart cities and quality of life is systemic (direct and reverse)—the quality of life also specifies the creation and development of smart cities. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of smart cities is almost null (smart cities do not depend on the implementation of SDG 3). This paper’s originality lies in the description of a new angle of studying smart cities—from the position of risks, and in the determination of the current level of these risks and the dynamics of their change during systematisation and description of the wide international experience of creation and development of smart cities. This paper’s uniqueness lies in the development of a new approach to managing the creation and development of smart cities, which is based on corporate social responsibility, thus specifying and ensuring the involvement and important role of the subjects of entrepreneurship in this process. It is proved that the contribution of smart cities to the implementation of the SDGs is much wider and goes beyond the limits of SDG 9—it also extends to SDG 1 and SDGs 11–13.

Throughout history, people have been searching for a more livable and better city. The “double carbon” strategy has put forward new requirements for the development of new smart cities, and the construction of new command cities is inevitable. The article firstly reviews the research on the development of smart cities at home and abroad and reviews the problems that exist in them. Then, it analyzes the current situation and problems in the development of new smart cities in Jining and the requirements for urban transformation and upgrading under the “double carbon” strategy, concerning the policy background of the development of new smart cities in Jining. Drawing on useful experiences from the construction of new smart cities at home and abroad, the article proposes countermeasures for the development of new smart cities in Jining in three dimensions: government, enterprises, and individuals, in the hope of promoting the development of new smart cities in Jining by taking active countermeasures. The article hopes to explore feasible countermeasures for the development of a new type of smart city at the prefectural level to provide a reference for the construction of smart cities in other small and medium-sized cities in China and to promote the urbanization and urban transformation process in China.

The growth of city population has consequences on the sustainability and development of smart regions. International standards can provide good practices in wide areas related to environmental, security and social aspects that contribute to the achievement of economic and sustainable growth, well-being, and safe environment. The aim of this study is to explore if there is an association between the level of smart cities in different regions and the number of certificates that could initiate further development of smart and sustainable cities. We analysed standards that support the development of sustainable and smart cities from different countries and explored their influence on the level of smart and sustainable cities. To measure the performance of cities we used the UN-habitat City Prosperity Initiative (CPI) and its six dimensions: Productivity, Infrastructure Development, Quality of Life, Equity and Social Inclusion, Environmental Sustainability, and Urban Governance and Legislation. To analyse the influence of international standards on smart regions and cities initiative we conducted SEM analysis. The results of the research have proved that there is a significant difference between the level of smart cities in different regions and the number of certificates that could initiate further development of smart and sustainable cities. Additionally, a positive impact of international standards on the development of smart regions and cities is confirmed. We believe that the presented approach might provide additional insights into the factors which impact the development of smart regions and cities and initiate further studies on the topic.

The study aims to avoid the phenomenon that thousand cities seem the same in the construction of smart cities and the efforts of all walks of life are jointed to implement the construction of smart cities and the creation of city brands. First, the basic theory of smart city construction is introduced. Second, the restricting and promoting factors influencing smart city construction and development are analyzes, and the evaluation system of smart city development is established. Then, the model for smart city construction and development based on the neural network is implemented. Finally, some domestic cities are selected as the dataset to build a training model, and the city brand optimization strategy is proposed. On this basis, an evaluation system for smart city development based on the intelligent neural network and Grey relational analysis Back Propagation Neural Network (GRA-BPNN) is obtained. The entropy weight method (EWM), grey relational analysis (GRA) method and the evaluation method based on Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solutionv (TOPSIS) are regarded as the members of the control group, and the results of different methods for evaluating the development of smart cities are compared. The results show that the modeling of smart city construction based on neural networks can help to implement an evaluation model for smart city construction and development, and it can help evaluate smart city construction and development accurately. And then the corresponding strategies are proposed to speed up the construction of smart cities with its local characteristics, and then city brands are built. Compared with other evaluation algorithms, the performance of the algorithm proposed is better and more stable and the evaluation results are more reasonable than those of the others, which can prove that the evaluation algorithm is feasible and scientific. This study provides a new idea for the application of deep learning to smart city construction and city brand building.

PurposeArchitectural, engineering and construction (AEC) project organizations are under constant pressure to improve the mental health of project management practitioners (PMPs) due to complexity and dynamism involved in project management practices. Drawing on institutional theory, this research explores how external environmental factors, political factors, economic factors, social factors, technological factors, environmental factors and legal factors (PESTEL), influence mental health management indicators that contribute to positive mental health.Design/methodology/approachPurposive sampling method was used to collect survey data from 82 PMPs in 60 AEC firms in Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses based on 82 items of data collected from PMPs.FindingsOverall, this study revealed interesting findings on the impact of external environmental factors on mental health. The hypothesized positive association between political factors and mental health management indicators was rejected. The data supported the proposed hypothetical correlation between economic factors and mental health management indicators and the influence of social factors on mental health management indicators. Moreover, a hypothetical relationship between technological factors and mental health management indicators was supported. The significant positive impact of environmental factors on mental health management indicators proposed was supported, and legal factors’ positive correlation on mental health management indicators was also supported.Originality/valueDespite the limitations, the present findings suggest that all the external environment factors except political factors shape mental health management outcomes.

The adoption of cloud computing in Saudi Arabia’s construction industry is complex and influenced by various PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal) factors. This study bridges a significant research gap by utilizing fuzzy DEMATEL analysis to systematically examine these complexities, identify crucial drivers, and pinpoint barriers to cloud computing adoption. Findings underscored the pivotal role of government policies and economic incentives in promoting digital transformation alongside technological advancements like building information modeling (BIM) and Internet of Things (IoTs) that enhanced operational efficiencies and project management capabilities. Social factors, such as workforce skills and organizational readiness, also emerged as crucial influencers, highlighting the need for strategic workforce development and cultural adaptation. The study emphasized the significance of integrating sustainability practices and ensuring compliance with legal standards to mitigate risks and foster long‐term adoption success. This study provides guidance for industry stakeholders in optimizing resource allocation and enhancing operational effectiveness through cloud technologies with theoretical contributions that integrate complex socio‐technical dynamics into adoption models. This dual approach paves the way for future research on evolving technologies and their transformative impact on construction practices in Saudi Arabia and beyond.

This research aims to analyze the development of coastal tourism at Sijile Beach and its impact on local beef cattle farming businesses. This research uses a quantitative approach with qualitative data as support, which includes interviews with key informants and surveys of around 40 breeders. The analysis was conducted to understand how tourism development affects livestock farmers' attitudes and identify policies and practices that can improve their welfare. PESTEL analysis identified political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing Sijile Beach livestock farming. Political factors include conservation policies that limit land access for livestock breeders. In contrast, economic factors indicate challenges and opportunities arising from tourism, including rising land prices and opportunities for economic diversification. Social factors describe changes in cultural values and potential conflict between tourists and local communities. Technological factors indicate a lack of use of technology by livestock farmers, which limits their operational efficiency. Environmental impacts include habitat degradation and pollution due to tourism activities. Legal factors reveal problems in policy implementation and the need for local community participation in decision-making. SWOT analysis highlights strengths, such as solid local resources and a potential market of tourists, as well as weaknesses, such as technological limitations and pressure on natural resources. Opportunities include sustainable tourism development and diversification of the local economy, while threats include the environmental impact of tourism and competition with the tourism sector. These findings demonstrate the need for balanced and inclusive policies to integrate tourism with livestock and the importance of technology training and support for livestock adaptation. This research provides important insights for stakeholders in designing strategies that support ecosystem sustainability and the welfare of local communities

The drastic growth of smart city has considerably gained attention around the world in the international policies and systematic literature. Numerous specialists should include diverse opinions owing to the hurdles to the design of smart cities in India. Thus, these experts have also offered their opinions regarding public, agriculture, industry and academia-fields, which help in developing the smart cities. Generally, more limitations have to be faced with offering energy optimisation and superior performance in Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled smart cities. In wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and IoT, the sensors or IoT devices or nodes are often grouped into clusters that result in selecting the cluster head, which gathers information from the entire nodes in cluster and plainly transmits with the base station. This paper makes an attempt on the development of smart cities in India using the hybrid meta-heuristic-based multi-objective cluster head selection model. The proposed model focusses on the design and development of new smart city model applicable for India by considering a multi-objective function using the constraints like distance, delay, energy, load and temperature of the IoT devices. The optimisation of these variables during the smart city development model by IoT is accomplished by a new hybrid Deer Hunting-Tunicate Swarm Optimisation (DH-TSO) algorithm. The performance of the proposed model is verified through a comparative analysis using various state-of-the-art optimisation models by concerning the number of alive nodes, and normalised energy, and thus ensures the overall lifetime of the network.

Smart cities use Big Data Analytics (BDA) for efficient and effective utilisation of resources and the adoption of big data analytics faces several barriers. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to investigate the key barriers towards the adoption of BDA in smart cities development. To fulfil this objective, initially, 13 barriers of BDA adoption is identified and then prioritise using Best Worst Method (BWM). The finding shows that data complexity, framework for BDA adoption, lack of technologies for BDA are the important barriers that hinder the incorporation of BDA in smart city development. The main contribution of this study is that it proposes a framework for the evaluation of the BDA adoption barrier related to smart city development. The proposed framework can be helpful for policy and decision-makers to analyse the barriers of BDA adoption in smart city design and development. This study is helpful in undertaking these barriers in an optimised manner for the accelerated development of smart cities.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of leadership attributes and activities play on the alliance firm performance in smart city developments. It also highlights an overview of the growing phenomena in the smart city and sustainability development. This paper suggests the importance for business leaders to actively volunteer and lead alliance firm in promoting the smart city and sustainability development through organizing various activities to seek for new business growth. The paper provides a leadership perspective to evaluate non-profit alliance firm in smart city and sustainability development. This justifies the importance of leadership attributes and activities towards the non-profit alliance firm performance and a conceptual framework has been presented. It provides a highly original look at exploring the leadership and firm’s perspective of the contemporary development of the smart city. This paper further suggests the need to conduct more research in the leadership attributes and activities in smart city leadership.

Background - Smart City integrates systems with the latest technologies to enable fast track of information and decision making by individuals, government, businesses, and public. Smart City connects people and information to manage public amenities, control crime rates, enhance services effectiveness, create vibrant, competitive, and innovative cities, and improve quality of life. Islamic Smart City can be defined as a smart city that incorporates the Islamic Syariah from Al-Quran and Hadith as a way of life; and impart the main component of Islamic Syariah compliance in individual and organisational behaviour aspects such as ethics, cleanliness, trust, security, and others. This research aims to explore the stakeholders’ readiness in four aspects of technology, human, institutional and Islamic factors, which are important in the development and implementation of the Islamic Smart City. Methods – This qualitative research design collected data through interviews with 20 selected stakeholders. Results– The findings provide the state government with insights into stakeholders’ readiness, which is crucial to the development of Islamic Smart City. The findings also show that the stakeholders’ readiness in the technology is high; but it is lacking in the Institutional and Islamic factors. Conclusion: This research provides insights that the development of Islamic Smart City requires major concern such as ensuring the stakeholders’ readiness for technology, human factors, the institutional and the Islamic factors are met.

Smart city development is gaining considerable recognition in the systematic literature and international policies throughout the world. The study aims to identify the key barriers of smart cities from a review of existing literature and views of experts in this area. This work further makes an attempt on the prioritisation of barriers to recognise the most important barrier category and ranking of specific barriers within the categories to the development of smart cities in India. Through the existing literature, this work explored 31 barriers of smart cities development and divided them into six categories. This research work employed fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to prioritise the selected barriers. Findings reveal that ‘Governance’ is documented as the most significant category of barriers for smart city development followed by ‘Economic; ‘Technology’; ‘Social’; ‘Environmental’ and ‘Legal and Ethical’. In this work, authors also performed sensitivity analysis to validate the findings of study. This research is useful to the government and policymakers for eradicating the potential interferences in smart city development initiatives in developing countries like India.

With the accelerated development of globalization and urbanization, the advent of the post-epidemic era means that the world has begun to enter the recovery stage, and the rapid development of urbanization has caused cities to transform from a decentralized model to a centralized model. The growing population puts cities under tremendous pressure. This paper studies the case of Barcelona, analyzes and summarizes the development of Barcelona's ecological smart city, as well as the practical application of information technology and Internet of Things technology, and discusses the challenges faced by smart cities. The concept of ecological smart city consists of the Internet, openness, intelligence, innovation and green to form an urban planning framework. Lay out smart sensors according to the size and shape of urban space, and use smart technology to activate the city's ecosystem. The digitalization and IoT technology services of smart cities are not only conducive to the tracking and prevention of the epidemic, but also conducive to the recovery and development of the city in the post-epidemic era. Smart cities represent the development of a city that is more efficient, sustainable, and livable. The development trend of smart cities is characterized by the integration of advanced technologies to improve the quality of life of urban residents, improve sustainability, and optimize city operations. Finally, it provides some suggestions and experiences for the development of smart cities in the world and expectations for the future of this field of research.