Exploring Social Identity as an Indicator of Citizen Readiness: Smart City Initiatives in Midsized Communities

• In Event: 40821 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11. Place and Wellbeing

Abstract

As urbanization increases globally, local governments face greater responsibilities in providing public services that enhance citizen well-being. Information and Communication Technology is crucial for developing functional urban environments in the 21st century. Using a survey of citizens in urban clusters in southeastern Wisconsin (N=409), we find that governments must acknowledge community and neighborhood diversity, tailoring services to meet the specific needs of different groups, even in smaller communities. Urban populations exhibit varying levels of readiness to engage in a technology-driven smart city, and understanding these nuances from the citizen’s perspective is crucial for governments to effectively implement smart city initiatives. Using a hierarchical ranking of engagement behaviors based on Chi and Wylie (2014), we find that citizen readiness decreases as engagement expectations increase. Demographic predictors of engagement differ depending upon the level of engagement; in multiple regression models of demographics on readiness to engage, income and age are significant positive predictors of the three lower levels of engagement but are replaced for the most interactive level of engagement readiness by primary language (English) and education. Willingness to increase digital literacy is the only consistent significant predictor of all levels of readiness to engage. We conclude that citizen readiness and its relationship to demographic characteristics in a population is a complex phenomenon that must be investigated in a multidimensional model.

Authors

• Madhumita Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Parkside

• Peggy James, University of Wisconsin Parkside