Socio-humanitarian dimension of the concept of “smart city”

The emergence of the smart city concept signifies a paradigm shift in urban planning and governance, leveraging technology to address urban challenges and enhance citizen well-being. While touted for its potential to revolutionize city management and infrastructure efficiency, the implementation of smart city initiatives raises profound social and humanitarian considerations. This paper explores these dimensions and suggests adaptive strategies to ensure the ethical and inclusive deployment of smart urbanization projects. The concept of the “smart city” represents a modern trend in urban development aimed at enhancing the quality of life, improving urban management efficiency, and optimizing city infrastructure through real-time data collection and digitalization of municipal services. However, the successful implementation of smart city projects necessitates careful consideration of significant social and humanitarian aspects. These include concerns regarding increased surveillance and citizen coercion, processes of societal marginalization, and other related issues. The conducted research identifies the main socio-humanitarian components of the “smart city” concept, as well as possible directions for the transformation of approaches to the implementation of smart urbanism projects, taking into account the identified aspects.