Smart Cities

Chapter 13Smart Economic Development

Madhavi Venkatesan

Department of Economics, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA, USA

Chapter Menu

Introduction

Perception of Resource Value, Market Outcomes, and Price

Conscious Consumption and the Sustainability Foundation of Smart Cities

Objectives

• • To understand the relationship between smart economic development and sustainability.
• • To understand the role of economic and social frameworks in determining economic outcomes.
• • To understand the significance of culture, specifically conscious consumption in enabling sustainable outcomes.
• • To understand and appreciate the importance of economic education and continuous improvement in fostering long-term smart economic development.

13.1 Introduction

Smart cities are fundamentally sustainable. How sustainability is reached in a city requires holistic assessment and is enabled through technology, specifically with respect to operationalizing efficiency. However, given the present consumerism, fostered economy, perhaps the most significant, powerful, and traction-inducing vehicle for instituting sustainability, is found in enabling conscious consumption. O'Connell [1] views the education of the inhabitant as being the catalyst for smart city implementation and finds that education is correlated with government participation. Government participation rates promote establishment of public goods and also ensure that social values promote self-policing of the same. Consistent with ...