Operationalization of the „smart“ city concept on the example of Serbia

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the operationalization of the concept of „smart“ city in all dimensions – characteristics (smart people, smart economy, smart living, smart management, smart mobility and smart environment), on the example of cities in Serbia. The aim is to explain the use of the concept of „smart“ city for the purpose of ranking of middle-sized cities in Serbia, modeled by the use of this concept in the ranking of European middle-sized cities. This goal will be realized by a comparison of indicators used for ranking cities in Europe and Serbia, as well as a detailed overview of selected indicators and their use in the ranking of cities in Serbia. One should bear in mind that the concept of „smart“ city is treated as the ideal type, in relation to which it should be estimated how and in what way medium-sized cities in Serbia are far from this ideal type. The contribution of this paper is twofold – in theoretical terms, within the framework of sociology, for the first time a discussion on the concept of „smart“ city opens, and in practical terms, this concept is operationalized for the first time for the purpose of ranking medium-sized cities in Serbia. In this way the multidisciplinary concept is being introduced in the domestic sociology of space and sociology of public policy.