Urban planners’ roles, perceptions, needs, and concerns in smart city planning: a survey of U.S. planners

In this article, we present insights from planners on their concepts of smart cities and their roles, perceptions, needs, and concerns related to the initiation and/or implementation of smart city projects. Our analysis is based on a survey of professional planners (n = 1,417) throughout the United States to study the tools, efforts, and concerns related to smart city planning. We also explore the role of smart city strategies and technologies in influencing planning processes and the function of cities, planning organizations, and local governments in this process. While most planners consider smart city planning as ‘proactive,’ ‘timely,’ and ‘needed,’ they identify several major issues, including a lack of agreement on what constitutes a smart city; a lack of demand from policymakers and citizens, resulting in little political will to implement smart city technologies; and a gap in understanding of the related issues concerning ethics, equity, and privacy.