Effective use of smart cities in crisis cases: A systematic review of the literature

ABSTRACT

Smart cities have become an influential concept in urban development. Smart cities and their applications aim to maintain a high quality of life by using smart technologies and enhancing economic productivity. Previous systematic literature reviews have considered the development of smart cities and highlighted their applications and services. However, no prior studies have comprehensively investigated smart cities in relation to emergencies. To this end, the current paper aims to provide a research agenda reviewing the relevant literature that touches on smart technologies during emergencies like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a systematic methodology centred on text mining analysis, our research identified the following three themes (a) emergency response, which covers emergency management, traffic and unmanned aerial vehicles, waste disposal, and contact tracing;(b) motivation and outcome, which includes such sub-themes as smart urbanism, quality of life and the economy;and (c) technology and data, which covers social media, machine learning, Internet of Things, data-driven applications, and object detection. We comprehensively discuss each theme and offer suggestions for future research. © 2023