Beneath the smart city: dichotomy between sustainability and competitiveness

The smart city is a new concept that has received a lot of attention as a means for enhancing city performance and quality of life. However, together with the growing interest in the concept of the smart city, cities are often pursuing other goals that may be in conflict with the characteristics of a smart city. For example, sustainability is an established goal of future urban development everywhere. Meanwhile, the promotion of economy development is often the major driver of smart city initiatives, but a high degree of economic competitiveness is only one of the components of a smart city. Moreover, sustainability and economic competitiveness have few elements in common. Which urban aspects should hence be promoted to conjugate the different goals? This paper compares the indicators used in rating systems for a smart city, a sustainable city, and a competitive city to figure out what these concepts seek to achieve and where they complement and contrast. The scope is to highlight aspects that should be promoted in cities which aim to move towards these different goals at the same time.