Transferring Smart City Concepts to Smaller Urban and Rural Contexts

A smart city (SC) leverages new technologies, such as information and communication technologies (ICTs), to enhance urban management and improving residents’ quality of life. Others define technologically based projects aiming to improve quality of life throughout a variety of dimensions such as economic improvement, social stability, and environment as “smart developments”. Moreover, a relatively new concept has emerged – that of the “smart village”, which focuses on enhancing development aspects in rural areas through digital technologies and involving the local population in their development, seeking to reflect the demographic transformation from rural settlements into smaller towns, then (small) cities, and even megacities. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate smart city projects against social, economic and environmental criteria to determine their success and to foster continuous improvement and learning. Large cities are currently at the centre of smart city analysis and indexes; there is a clear lack of attention on medium and small cities. Assessment models for small cities are crucial for their development, as there is a need for tailored models to support small smart cities and regions, focusing on innovative, financially feasible solutions to enhance quality of life. This paper lays out the state of the art in the field of smart cities and regions with a focus on sustainability aspects (such as governance, social, economic and environmental dimensions) and identifies the characteristics that can be transferred to smaller-scale urban and non-urban contexts.