European Experience Forming a Socio-Political Concept of a Smart City
The article is devoted to a comparative study of three European cities - Barcelona, London and Amsterdam - in forming the socio-political concept of a “smart city”, whereas they have achieved the greatest success in this area in recent years. The criteria for the comparative analysis are: the availability of a range of modern electronic public services; increasing citizens’ participation in politics using digital technology; opportunities, problems and risks in the formation of e-democracy (including cybercrime, the lack of a legal framework that enshrines citizens' rights to initiatives in electronic decision-making, a high percentage of elderly citizens poorly adapted to new technologies, etc.). The methodology of the research is interdisciplinary: it is conducted at the intersection of political science, communication, sociology, cultural and urban studies.The main challenges and problems of the three cities on their way to “smart city” formation were: aging of the population (the problem of educating senior citizens on digital technologies); the growth of cybercrime (distrust of the digital technology reliability); the lack of a legal framework for the wide use of digital technology in political practice. A critical analysis of the European experience shows that the neglect of challenges and risks, especially of the legislative framework and the fight against cybercrime, initially was the main mistake made when implementing the “smart city” concept. It is shown that the next stage in the development of this concept should be the legislative consolidation of the status of city residents as a subject of politics and management in electronic decision-making.