In the search for the ‘Smart’ Source of the Perception of Quality of Life in European Smart Cities

Abstract

In the last years, cities are actively developing strategies towards the goal of becoming "smart" with the promise of producing a higher quality of life (QLF) for citizens in the urban environment. This paper seeks to analyze whether smart cities are those with a higher QLF in the urban environment as well as to investigate the smart dimensions that could have an influence on the citizen's perception of QLF. Findings based on a sample of European smart cities indicate that the smart city's promise of increasing the citizen's QLF is true, but it seems to be mainly focused on the outcomes (smart living dimension) and not in other smart dimensions that could be focused on the process to obtain the outcomes (smart governance or smart environment, for example).