Valuation of Lithuanian cities’ smartness

Abstract

Research Purpose. To assess the level of smartness of Lithuanian cities. The article systematizes the theoretical background of a smart city and its criteria, develops the methodology for measuring the level of smart cities and assesses the level of smartness of Lithuanian cities. Design/Methodology/Approach. Methods used for the study: systematization, comparison, generalization, multicriteria methods (COPRAS, EDAS and TOPSIS). The criteria for the assessment of smartness of cities were distinguished from the analysed scientific literature. Multi-criteria methods are used to determine the smartest city in Lithuania since they allow you to rank alternatives according to various criteria that are rendered dimensionless. Findings. A multi-criteria assessment of the level of smartness of Lithuanian cities has shown that the capital city is leading. However, different results were obtained using different multi-criteria assessment methods in ranking the remaining cities. Originality/Value/Practical implications. Usually, the smartness is analysed for major cities of the world, and Lithuanian cities were not assessed to the knowledge of the authors. The selected criteria for the assessment of the smartness of the cities represent the most often used (foreign direct investment; emission of the pollutant; the number of international immigrants; the ratio of people registered as unemployed to the working-age population; the number of crimes; the number of specialists trained at universities; the number of universities; the number of bus routes; the number of road traffic accidents; the number of IT companies and forest cover). The results could help for policy creators to make decisions on increasing the intelligence of Lithuanian cities, which would help to develop the economy not only in the capital but also in other important cities of the country and raise the quality of life of the inhabitants of those cities.