Developing an evaluation framework for smart countries with a focus on sustainability as a basis for comparative analysis

Abstrakt

The concept of smart cities based on the principles of sustainable development and the approaches to their comparative assessment have been extensively studied. However, with both analysis and, above all, implementation concerned predominantly with matters of economy, there is not much research that combines a macro-level view with a focus on social and environmental issues. The article addresses this gap, proposing to develop a sustainability index for macro-level comparison of countries and regions. Based on a comprehensive review of printed and online sources, a set of indicators was selected and applied to 14 countries from different regions of the world. The compiled data were then normalized to generate a comparative ranking. An analysis of the results reveals regional differences in the emphasis placed on sustainability in general as well as its environmental and social aspects in particular. It also shows that if the government takes concrete regulatory measures for insreasing sustainability, with time quality of life improves, and the economy benefits. By identifying potential problem areas, systematic and ongoing assessment of sustainability indicators would make it possible to address them, thus supporting the efforts to meet climate strategy targets. For this reason, efforts should be made to elaborate the index further and include more countries, so that better recommendations may be made on its basis.