Contemporary smart city solutions rely on standardized von Neumann architecture, in which single data units are coded as “0” or “1.” Conversely, urban quantum technologies rely on the fundamental principles of quantum physics, transcending the conventions of the current computational paradigm. On the one hand, urban quantum technologies hold managerial relevance for future smart cities. On the other hand, they are often overlooked by smart city researchers. Accordingly, their value as a breakthrough technological paradigm is still largely unexplored. In this article, we look at how quantum technologies may contribute to existing smart city solutions, including the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, ICT, smart transportation, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. First, through a semi-systematic review of eighty articles on quantum computing within the social science domain, we identify two relevant classes of urban quantum technologies: quantum communication and quantum computing. Second, we establish a comprehensive taxonomy of conventional smart city solutions based on the automated content analysis of 567 abstracts of articles on the technological aspects of smart cities. Third, we investigate potential associations between two classes of technologies (conventional smart city solutions and urban quantum technologies) by analyzing the semantic relationships between eighty articles on quantum technologies according to the frequency of keywords denoting different types of conventional smart city solutions. Finally, we triangulate our findings through a thematic analysis of potential uses of quantum technologies within identified categories of smart city solutions.
Today's cities are facing increasingly complex challenges. The growing uncertainty and complexity—caused by the unremitted differentiation of social, environmental, and technological orders—call for novel ways of conceptualizing urban reality. Although technology-oriented solutions shape the most efficient strategies to manage complexity in contemporary cities, ensuring an effective transition toward a Quantum City paradigm can grant considerable advantages for city administrators and managers facing looming urban challenges. In this article, we introduce the Quantum City metaphor—grounded in fundamental notions of quantum mechanics—as a new conceptual lens for investigating urban complexity. We then build upon the metaphor, theorizing a set of assumptions grounded in three fundamental concepts of quantum theory: relativity, uncertainty, and duality/parallelism. Finally, we propose an empirical conceptualization of Quantum Cities based on the concrete adoption of quantum technologies to deal with urban complexity. This is achieved through a systematic literature review of scholarly records on quantum technologies in the context of social sciences, emphasizing related urban problematics and challenges. Principal component analysis and agglomerative hierarchical clustering reveal two types of quantum technologies most useful for city planners and managers: quantum communication and quantum computing. Accordingly, we perform a qualitative thematic synthesis of related scholarly records, emphasizing the negative and positive aspects of both types of urban quantum technologies.
Bonab, Aysan Bashirpour; Bellini, Francesco & Rudko, Ihor (2023)
Theoretical and analytical assessment of smart green cities
As a locus of technological innovation, a smart city (SC) is a prototypical city of the future. Moreover, according to scholars, a smart city is also sustainable city. Nonetheless, the environmental aspects of urban sustainability are often de-emphasized in favor of discourses around the technical characteristics of SC technologies. In order to integrate the two, the article introduces the notion of a smart green city (SGC) in which technological means and environmental outcomes are in sustainable balance. SGC is presented here as a unifying concept integrating smart city and green city concepts through the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework. To illustrate the positive synergy between a city's greenness and smartness, we derive operational definitions of both based on the online media's attention to the related technology and sustainability initiatives. After calculating the two indices for all the cities worldwide with over one million inhabitants (498 cities), regression analysis is performed to determine the strength and direction of the relationships between a city's greenness and smartness. We find that a city's greenness is positively related to its smartness. Principal component analysis reveals a potential relationship between a city's population and the two indices. In particular, a large city's population negatively affects its greenness but positively affects its smartness. A joint index of smartness and greenness is negatively related to a city's population. Hence, the containment of uncontrolled urban growth is critical for successfully implementing SGC initiatives. The analysis results are of use to policy-makers, city managers, and planners intending to integrate the ESG framework into their future urban development strategies. Moreover, to our knowledge, a joint evaluation of a city's greenness and smartness has never been performed before on the inter-regional level of analysis. Accordingly, such a holistic assessment can be of methodological interest to scholars of smart and sustainable cities.