A systematic review of smart city research from an urban context perspective

• Published in: Cities 2024-07, Vol.150, p.105027, Article 105027
• Main Authors: Han, Min Jee Nikki, Kim, Mi Jeong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Smart city; Smart urbanism; Taxonomy of literature review; Urban context; Urban engagement and impact
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2024.105027

This review conducts a systematic analysis of a total of 90 Smart City articles from an urban context perspective based on the ‘Urban Engagement and Impact Analytical Framework’. Many previous smart city reviews have been conducted through bibliometric analysis from a holistic viewpoint, finding the performance, trend and focused area of smart city research. Therefore, the principal objective of this review is to explore the gap in the adequacy of smart city research engagement with diverse urban contexts, to provide a smart urban environment focusing on Smart Urbanism. This paper highlights three principal aspects of each article; 1) Whose perspective that Smart City research mostly conducted by, 2) The depth of Urban context engagement conducted during Smart City development, 3) Which part of urban development is particularly affected by. These three dimensions are significant factors correlated to each other, that form healthy smart urbanism. By doing so, the findings from this review will lead the smart city research to a practical intervention in urban planning through engagement with the insightful urban contexts. This will offer a positive impact on developing a sustainable urban livelihood for the inhabitants by extending the view of the smart city development towards Smart urbanism within the urban context viewpoint. •In-depth urban contextual engagement is lacking in current Smart City research.•An Extension view of Smart City embracing balanced urban context is essential.•Taxonomy analytical framework is proposed for the review analysis.•The practical intervention urges for Smart City growth as urban planning.•Active engagement of scholars from architecture and urban planning is significant.