Lived experience of understanding the smart city with an emphasis on social and economic dimensions (A case study of Tehran citizens)

Bagheri, Farhang; Abagheri Mahabadi, Noushin

doi:10.22034/uep.2026.593552.1966

Lived experience of understanding the smart city with an emphasis on social and economic dimensions (A case study of Tehran citizens)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Farhang Bagheri ¹

Noushin Abagheri Mahabadi ²

¹ Ph.D. Candidate in Entrepreneurship Management, Qeshm International Education Unit, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

² Researcher and Ph.D. in Economic Sociology and Development, Faculty of Humanities, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/uep.2026.593552.1966

Abstract

The expansion of information technologies has made the smart city an important approach in urban planning and management. However, realizing the smart city depends not only on developing technological infrastructure but also on citizens’ trust and participation. The present study aimed to explain Tehran citizens’ lived experience of the smart city using a qualitative approach based on Strauss and Corbin’s grounded theory. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 19 Tehran citizens using theoretical sampling and were analyzed through open, axial, and selective coding with MAXQDA software. The findings showed that “ambiguity of the situation toward smartification” is the core category of citizens’ experience, formed by the simultaneous occurrence of two conflicting orientations: fear and hope toward smartification. Weak technological literacy and education, privacy concerns, the possibility of job elimination, emerging social harms, weak infrastructure, and inefficient urban management were the main conditions shaping this ambiguity, while ease of access to services, improved quality of life, expanded communication, rapid access to knowledge and information, and new opportunities fostered hope toward smartification. To confront this situation, citizens proposed strategies such as improving technological literacy, demand-making, participation, increasing transparency, public education, legal reform, and better institutional coordination. The outcome of this process was the conditional acceptance of the smart city, whereby trust, equitable access, data security, and attention to citizens’ real needs were considered essential conditions for the success of Tehran’s smartification.

Keywords

Smart city

smart economy

smart governance

smart living

smart people

Subjects

Urban Economy

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