From smart city to smart village – will the countryside also be as smart as the city? Evidence from Poland

The smart village concept has evolved from the smart city concept, known in Europe for decades, while smart villages are a more recent development. Smart approaches involves innovative territorial development support, often enabled by modern technologies. Smart villages can better manage their natural resources, improve energy efficiency, support local entrepreneurship, and promote tourism and cultural heritage preservation. The goal of smart solutions is to increase the quality of life of the rural population while fostering sustainable and resilient local communities But can the smart village concept be seen as an analogy to the smart city concept? The paper attempts to answer this question, identifying key similarities and differences between the two, as well as experiences from their socio-economic implementation in Poland to date. Main conclusions highlight that Polish literature has explored smart cities for decades, but smart villages remain a new topic, with comparative studies scarce—this article fills that critical gap. Both concepts share aims of improving quality of life and sustainable development, yet diverge in scale, resource access, and priorities. Polish literature and practical implementations reveal that smart cities emphasise advanced technologies, while smart villages prioritise locally grounded, socially oriented solutions, often in partnership with urban areas.