The Impact of Cultural Aspects on Building the Smart City Approach: Managing Diversity in Europe (London), North America (New York) and Asia (Singapore)

Dominika Šulyová,Josef Vodák

doi:10.3390/su12229463

Abstract

One of the main motives for creating this article was to explore the importance of cultural aspects in building smart city approaches. The aim of this article was to obtain answers to three research questions, the answers to which made it possible to identify the elements of multiculturalism that affect the development of smart cities, to find out how multiculturalism affects smart cities and how to manage diversity. The ambition was to create and organize the most important findings into a comprehensive framework. To achieve this goal, secondary analysis methods were used by examining the literature and case studies of best practices from Europe, North America, and Asia. The choice of case studies was conditioned by the placement of smart cities in four global indices (smart city index, Arcadis, IESE and global power index), the existence of a multicultural strategy and elements of successful diversity management, including positive effects and possible limitations. In addition, methods of analysis, comparison and summarization were used. Effective diversity management acts as an accelerator of the sustainable development of smart cities. The results of the analysis of the case studies serve as a basis for recommendations and the creation of a proposed general model, whose task is to simplify the adoption of intelligent concepts, which creates space for the specification of local or cultural conditions of the country. Testing the model in practice is the subject of the following research activities of the authors.

Highlights

The purpose of this article is to organize the most important findings of three case studies in the field of interaction between multiculturalism and building smart cities into a comprehensive framework
The aim is to identify key elements that influence the management of diversity depending on the cultural aspects of smart cities in Europe (London), North America (New York) and Asia (Singapore), including the creation of a proposed general model to facilitate the adoption of smart concepts in different cultures
To achieve the set goal, methods of secondary analysis of the literature on smart cities, culture, multiculturalism and their interconnection will be used, including defining key concepts of the researched issues, analysis of three case studies selected on the basis of the results and ranking in smart city indices, comparisons and summaries of the results obtained in the discussion section and in the creation of a general model

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to organize the most important findings of three case studies in the field of interaction between multiculturalism and building smart cities into a comprehensive framework. Cultural diversity is a key element in the development of any modern society in the twenty-first century. The concept has evolved since ancient times, as multiculturalism is created by people who come from different parts of the world, but currently share the same living or working space. According to Parekh, multiculturalism is the interaction between different cultures in a single space, which should be managed to meet the preferences of all involved [1]

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion