The inequities of being smart
Uneven development and smart city technology adoption
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21450768 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Austin Zwick (0000-0003-3727-055X, Syracuse University, corresponding author), Zachary Spicer (0000-0002-6441-7919, York University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 190 |
| Pages | 103976 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Applied Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0143-6228 • E-ISSN: 1873-7730 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103976 |
| OpenAlex | W7137996339 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 42 |
To understand whether smart city technology adoption replicates historic patterns of uneven development on both global and local levels, we examine if a city's relative wealth explains differences in the types of smart city technologies adopted. To answer our research questions, we created a novel dataset of 127 cities worldwide, analyzing planning documents and secondary sources. We grouped 70 different smart city policy options into six broad categories and then investigated how these policies vary according to city wealth, assessed city income using indicators from the World Bank and the UN Human Development Index. Our findings reveal a strong connection between city income level and smart city technology adoption patterns, with higher income cities implementing more technology policies than their lower-income peers, thus largely mirroring global inequalities. However, we also observe that higher-income cities are more inclined to adopt policies focused on equity, environmental sustainability, and data transparency aimed at reducing intra-urban disparities. Based on these findings, we postulate that—as cities continue their economic development and increase their municipal capacities—they may allocate more resources to tackling local inequities in line with their current higher-income peers. Consequently, we find that smart city policy adoption increases global unevenness in the short term; however, we acknowledge that technology adoption has the potential to reduce both local and global disparities over the long run
City region · Inequality · Smart city · Urban planning · Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development · Smart Cities and Technologies · Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
Urban Scaling and Its Deviations
Inequality in Cities
Smart cities of the future
Towards sustainable smart cities
Foundations for Smarter Cities
Leadership in, of, and for smart cities – case studies from Europe, America, and Australia
Measuring human development by means of composite indicators
Why aren't countries rich
City approaches to smart city evaluation and reporting
The Smart City as Global Discourse
The Role of Smart City Characteristics in the Plans of Fifteen Cities
Big data, smart cities and city planning
The ‘actually existing smart city’
Critical interventions into the corporate smart city
Making sense of smart cities
IBM's smart city as techno-utopian policy mobility
On alternative smart cities
From the smart city to urban justice in a digital age
Examining the Smart City Generational Model
Socioeconomic segregation in European capital cities. Increasing separation between poor and rich
The empty rhetoric of the smart city
Cities within cities
Allocation of development assistance for health
Does smart city policy lead to sustainability of cities
Why do cities adopt smart technologies? Contingency theory and evidence from the United States
Economic opportunities for creating smart cities in Poland. Does wealth matter
What is different about urbanization in rich and poor countries? Cities in Brazil, China, India and the United States
Is there anybody out there? The place and role of citizens in tomorrow’s smart cities
Global environmental change
Will the real smart city please stand up
The digital turn in postcolonial urbanism
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |