Analysis of the complexities and ambiguities of the smart city concept

ABSTRACT
In recent decades, the concept of a smart city has become very common in urban planning in response to challenges. However, there are complexities about the definition of the concept of a smart city, and a smart city contains different concepts and meanings for urban activists. Based on this, the current research has sought to clarify and reduce the ambiguities and complexities of the concept of a smart city in a way that tries to extract the main common meanings and concepts for the concept of a smart city. Responding to the purpose of the research was done by relying on the qualitative method and meta-synthesis (meta-analysis) of the authentic studies written on the topic of smart cities (68 selected articles), which were mainly done in the last decade. The findings show that the use of information and communication technologies along with human and social capital are responsible for advancing the plans of a smart city. In addition, these are the driving forces that lead to the creation of other main concepts of the smart city, such as innovation and creativity, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the urban system. The current state of the concept of a smart city, which is accompanied by an increase in the human-centered view and its greater connection with concepts such as holistic, sustainability, and flexibility, while making this concept larger and more comprehensive, has made the ability to measure the smartness of a city more complicated.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In recent years, the concept of smart urban development in the form of a smart city approach has become increasingly popular in the academic and executive space due to the increasing challenges and problems of cities and the increasing complexity of cities. In the theoretical literature, a wide range of topics, including communication and information technologies, inclusive communication, knowledge and creativity, free and large information, social capital, business, smart community, ecological sustainability, etc., are used to define the discourse of the smart city. On the other hand, different researchers believe that despite the widespread of the smart city approach, there is no single definition for a smart city accepted by everyone. There are ambiguities and complications about the definition of the concept of a smart city, and this concept contains different concepts and meanings for urban activists, including experts, policymakers and other actors effective in guiding and controlling the city. Based on this, the current research seeks to clarify and reduce the ambiguities and complexities of the smart city concept and seeks to answer this basic question:
- What are the main common concepts and meanings corresponding to the concept of smart city and what is their relationship with each other and what effect have they had on the formation and evolution of the concept of smart city?
 
Methodology
The current research is a review article with a fundamental nature, which relies on the meta-synthesis qualitative method to analyze the valid research conducted on the topic of smart city. Meta-synthesis deals with the integration and interpretation of the results and findings of a set of related qualitative studies on a topic. The methods of meta-synthesis can be different according to the purpose of the research and the available data, although they have similarities. The meta-synthesis process in the current research includes defining the research question, identifying and retrieving information, determining the entry and exit criteria of the study, extracting the results, and analyzing and interpreting the findings. In this research, after defining the research question, the collection of materials was done by searching for the keyword "smart city" in Google Scholar. The most important criteria for entering the study were the quality of the research, the publication of articles in the last 10 years (2011-2021 AD), the article having many references and being indexed in reliable international databases, which finally resulted in 68 selected articles. Then, in the phase of extracting the results, we tried to extract the main common meanings and concepts for the concept of a smart city within the selected sources by analyzing the content of the text and coding the information. In the final stage, while explaining each concept, comparison and analysis of connections, commonalities and differences between extracted concepts and their summation were done.
 
Results and discussion
The research findings show that the key concepts and meanings extracted in the smart city literature include the use of information and communication technologies, human and intellectual capital, innovation and creativity, social capital and cooperation, holistic view, sustainability, efficiency and accountability, efficiency and optimality. The analysis of the key concepts and meanings used for the smart city and the connections between these concepts shows that they can be divided into three categories: driving force, performance and result. The main driving force and driving force of the smart city is the use of information and communication technologies, which, of course, have recently become less important, and along with human and social capital, they have the task of advancing the plans of a smart city. Due to the basic and causal role of the aforementioned driving forces, the smart city in the theoretical literature often implies the possession and use of these capitals and assets in order to achieve urban goals. These driving forces create innovation and creativity and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the urban system. Also, especially when the mentioned driving forces act together and synergistically, they can bring about the realization of a holistic view in urban planning and policymaking and, as a result, solve urban problems and achieve urban goals. However, some thinkers do not consider relying on these driving forces, and the emergence of such functions to be considered smart and call a city smart in the real sense when it has the stability or flexibility needed to face changes in the future. In other words, they link the smartness of a city with the ability of a city to survive and have a consequentialist approach to the issue.
 
Conclusion
The current state of the concept of a smart city, which is associated with an increase in the human-centered view and its greater connection with concepts such as holistic, sustainability and flexibility under the influence of the evolution and complexity of the concept, although it can help to realize a smart city in accordance with what the word smart means, but the ability Measuring the smartness of a city has made it more difficult and complicated. Based on this, measuring the real smartness of a city is a difficult task, and cities should not be separated into being smart or not but should be measured in terms of how smart they are. Today, many cities call themselves smart despite the apparent differences between their plans and strategies. According to the conceptual requirements, the smart city takes shape and meaning based on the local characteristics and conditions, the needs and priorities of the cities, in addition to the pressures of the global markets and available technologies.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.