The smart city concept as a method of building urban resilience to threats: Evidence from Poland

Objectives The functioning of cities is strongly influenced by local phenomena and global processes related to the urban natural environment. Regardless of the reasons, progressing urbanization leads not only to an increase in the demand for energy, water or gas, transport services, housing or the reduction of urban space but also to uncontrolled development outside the city, the formation of slums, dispersed jobs, as well as the ageing of urban infrastructure. The paper aims to show how implementing the smart city concept affects building urban resilience to threats in Polish medium and large cities. Material and methods At the preliminary stage of the research, a working hypothesis was formulated in the form of a supposition that implementing the smart city concept affects the building of cities' resistance to threats. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in the research process. The data for the analysis were obtained using a diagnostic survey (CAWI and CATI methods) using the questionnaire survey technique. Results The analysis of the research results allows us to conclude that representatives of medium and large cities in Poland determine the impact of the smart city concept's implementation on building the city's resilience between medium and large. Conclusions Sustainability and resilience are among the most critical challenges in ensuring city security. Actions taken to build them are aimed, among others, at minimizing the negative impact of development on the environment while focusing on development and building better living conditions for future generations. The research showed that representatives of medium-sized and large cities in Poland see the potential in implementing the smart city concept in the context of building cities' resilience to threats.