The post in the smart city

Abstract

The paper substantiates the possibility of the Russian Post’s participation in the Smart City projects due to the integration of a smart city’s information systems and the postal services’ assets for the collection of the urban data and support of the information processes inherent in the city economy in the information society stage. Integration will improve the results of a smart city’s management and the provision of municipal services to citizens through the use of the technologies underlying the digital economy by the postal services. The transition of the postal authorities from the different countries and the Russian Post to the provision of digital services determines their willingness to become full participants in the Smart City projects launched around the world. The authors present the results of an analysis of international sources and an online survey of the Russian citizens in order to justify the relevance of the research, identify the opinions of the citizens to the Smart City projects, the participation of the Russian Post in the similar projects. The survey reveals the respondents’ attitude to the use of the digital technologies, IoT in the city initiatives, assessment of the potential of the Russian Post in implementing the Smart City projects.