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The Global Whitewashing of Smart Cities: Citizens’ Perspectives

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  • Ibrahim Mutambik

    (Department of Information Science, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh P.O. Box 11451, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Today, smart cities offer many significant benefits. As a result, the smart city is usually described in highly benign terms, and it is often uncritically assumed that its implementation must lead to widescale improvements, at all levels of society. Yet, while smart cities undoubtedly offer advantages, they also carry associated risks and dangers which could outweigh the benefits. This raises the important question of to which extent the ordinary citizen is aware of these risks and dangers. This study sets out to examine this question. While the ‘downsides’ of smart cities have been the subject of research over the past few years, there have been no studies which explore the perception of smart city disadvantages among citizen-stakeholders in the GCC countries. This study seeks to fill this gap in the literature, by examining the perspectives of a representative sample of citizens from the GCC. The results show that, despite the ‘whitewashing’ effect of public messaging, the study’s participants have a range of significant concerns about smart cities which could affect their acceptance of such initiatives. The findings will inform smart city development bodies in the GCC and contribute to strategies for promoting smart cities and citizen engagement.

Suggested Citation

  • Ibrahim Mutambik, 2023. "The Global Whitewashing of Smart Cities: Citizens’ Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:8100-:d:1148279
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ibrahim Mutambik & John Lee & Abdullah Almuqrin & Justin Zuopeng Zhang, 2023. "Transitioning to Smart Cities in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: The Role of Leadership and Organisational Culture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-22, July.
    2. Ibrahim Mutambik & Abdullah Almuqrin & Fawaz Alharbi & Majed Abusharhah, 2023. "How to Encourage Public Engagement in Smart City Development—Learning from Saudi Arabia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Michal Kaššaj & Tomáš Peráček, 2024. "Sustainable Connectivity—Integration of Mobile Roaming, WiFi4EU and Smart City Concept in the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-37, January.
    4. Ibrahim Mutambik & John Lee & Abdullah Almuqrin & Abdulrhman Alkhanifer & Mohammed Baihan, 2023. "Gulf Cooperation Council Countries and Urbanisation: Are Open Government Data Portals Helping?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-22, August.

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