СМАРТ-СІТІ: ВІД АВТОМАТИЗАЦІЇ ДО ПЛАТФОРМНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ

Abstract

The article examines the distinction between automation and platform models of smart city development. This distinction is relevant because the term smart city is often used for different digital solutions, although they have different economic logic and effects on urban development. The purpose of the article is to define criteria for distinguishing automation and platform models of smart city development and to test them through selected urban cases. The study is based on analysis, synthesis, comparative analysis, case analysis, systematization and generalization. The article shows that the use of digital technologies in a city does not automatically create a platform economy. The automation model improves a specific urban function and mainly uses data within one municipal system or service. The platform model has a broader economic logic, since urban data become a reusable resource for services, partnerships and new forms of value creation. The proposed criteria include the object of digitalization, purpose, role of data, role of the city, participation of business and citizens, source of economic effect, scaling mechanism and prerequisites for network effects. Los Angeles, Cary and Singapore are considered as automation-oriented cases, while Amsterdam, Vienna and Barcelona are considered as platform-oriented cases. Originality. The article develops an approach to smart city analysis as an economic model of urban development by proposing criteria that distinguish the automation of separate urban functions from the platform logic of urban value creation. For Ukrainian cities, this distinction is important for recovery, infrastructure modernization and long-term economic resilience, as digital solutions should support urban management, data governance, cooperation between participants and the creation of real urban value.