Citizens' readiness to crowdsource smart city services: A developing country perspective

Abstract

The paper studies the citizens' readiness for implementation of crowdsourcing services of a smart city. The main goal is to develop a methodological approach that would enable the identification of those crowdsourcing services based on the Internet of things and mobile technologies that will encourage the participation of citizens. The research focus is on developing countries and cities not yet fully aligned with smart city standards. The methodological approach of examining citizens' readiness was based on an analysis of crowdsourcing models, such as crowd wisdom, crowdfunding, crowdvoting and crowdsensing, and their application in various fields, such as traffic, environmental conservation, utility services and health. The data was gathered in the city of Belgrade, Republic of Serbia, for two years through a survey that included a sample of 210 citizens. The results indicate that citizens are ready to accept crowdsourcing services related to environmental conservation (crowdfunding services that support solar energy development and environmental protection) and public transportation (crowdvoting and crowd wisdom services that can improve the state of the public transport). The proposed methodological approach and obtained results could serve as a good basis for initiating the implementation of smart city projects in Serbia and other cities and governments.