Evaluating smart city performance within the framework of the sustainability concept: The case of Istanbul

The population of cities continues to increase progressively. The population projections of the cities show that this increment will continue to proceed. Due to the problems caused by this rapid population growth in cities, local governments experience some problems while providing city services. It is obvious that especially the COVID-19 pandemic, living in now, has triggered this situation. Accordingly, sustainability and smart cities are among the prominent concepts to respond to these challenges. It can be said that the smart city is a concept that has emerged for the simplicity, quality, and inclusive delivery of city services. Although there is a lot of discussion on this concept, there is no agreed definition. Thus, how is it understood whether a city is a sustainable smart city? This study explores how to measure the performance of smart cities in the framework of sustainability, through the method of grounded theory based on the Istanbul case study. On the basis of this question, the thesis aims to address the smart city concept, which is quite new in the literature, with a holistic approach within the framework of sustainability. Two-stage semi-structured interviews were conducted with those working in the field of smart cities in universities, municipalities, the private sector, civil society organizations in Istanbul. Indicators obtained from different performance evaluation methods were first analyzed according to smart city criteria and smart city selection methods. Afterward, the indicators separated according to the smart city criteria were analyzed using the word cloud method and interpreted within the framework of Istanbul.