Urban Planning
sh s; Samad Ebrahimzadeh Sepasgozar
Volume 6, Issue 22 , May 2017, , Pages 27-42
Abstract
Understanding individual acceptance and technology application is one of the most mature streams of technology adoption research. There have been several theoretical models, primarily developed from theories in psychology and sociology, employed to explain technology acceptance and use. The advancement ...
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Understanding individual acceptance and technology application is one of the most mature streams of technology adoption research. There have been several theoretical models, primarily developed from theories in psychology and sociology, employed to explain technology acceptance and use. The advancement and availability of digital technologies may facilitate the implementation of smart cities and e-government systems. Many policy makers tend to enhance the smart city performance in their countries, while there is not deep understanding of key factors and barriers to adopting required technologies by users. Digital technologies such as laser sensors for collecting data from urban environments, web-based versions of Geographic Information Systems, positioning systems and smartphones may help to collect and process more accurate data. There is a considerable amount of studies focusing on the introduction and development of the above-mentioned technologies, but current literature does not provide a deep understanding of the technology adoption process in developing countries. Furthermore, the process of technology adoption has not been investigated in the field of urban planning and management. Current studies in e-government are not fully focused on the local city council e-services. The present study aims to develop the Urban Technology Adoption Model consisting of such key constructs as Low Quality Services, Cost Reduction, Energy Saving, and Time Saving. This paper intensively reviews the literature and identifies nine key constructs to use for modeling the adoption process. The constructs are identified from different domains such as technology acceptance in information systems, project management and sustainable technologies. However, the concept of technology acceptance is used in the smart city context. A survey-based method was used to test the proposed model using the Structural Equation Modeling method. The proposed model was first modified based on a sample of 110 participants in a selected major city (MC1). The modified model was validated based on the data collected from four more major cities (MC2 to MC5). The analysis shows that five constructs are critical for predicting the participants’ adoption behavior including Self-Efficacy, Operation, Work Facilitation, Relative Advantage and Compatibility. These factors were the top priorities of MCs’ users. Low priority factors as determined by the participants included such constructs as Low Quality of Services, Perceived Security and Energy Saving. This model is a valuable tool to predict the process of technology adoption at the level of local government in the field of urban e-services and management. The results of the present study are important in preventing any unsuccessful technology implementation at local level. The findings are also critical for urban planners and technology managers in developing countries since they are the main target of modern technologies. The presented model in this paper should be modified for different contexts as a future research agenda. In addition, a decision-making framework should be developed in the future based on an exploratory study recruiting participants from the management level.
Urban Planning
M B
Abstract
ObjectivesTourism, on the one hand, is important from the point of view of economic values and, on the other hand, from cultural, political and social viewpoints. It is important to geographically analyze the power and sufficiency of tourism because it provides an active and dynamic field for development ...
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ObjectivesTourism, on the one hand, is important from the point of view of economic values and, on the other hand, from cultural, political and social viewpoints. It is important to geographically analyze the power and sufficiency of tourism because it provides an active and dynamic field for development in every region. Accurate scientific studies are needed to recognize the high potential of tourism in different regions of Iran and its effect on social and economic life of residents these regions, and to realize the link between tourism growth and its role in economic and environmental development of host areas. One of the touristic regions of Iran which attracts large numbers of internal and foreign tourists is the historical city of Kashan. Kashan’s historical, cultural and social attractions, its sport attraction in the Maranjab desert, rose-water festival, waterfalls, etc. have attracted native and non-native tourists and developed the city. Hence, the present study seeks to answer the following questions: how much does tourism development influence urban development? In addition to the modeling, what are the effective factors on tourism development? What are the effects of tourism development on urban development? FindingsIn line with effective factors on tourism development and its role in urban development, a list of variables was identified and arranged according to theoretical basis of the study. Then, the variables’ validity was checked and confirmed. Afterwards, the variables were evaluated in the form of a structural model. The results of analyses indicate that tourism has been effective on environmental, framework, economic, and social factors of the region. The economic factor plays the most important role in specifying the effects of Kashan tourism development. Income growth is the most tangible indicator affected by tourism development in the region. Capital increase and job diversification are other important indices which are influenced by tourism development in Kashan. Social factor is another crucial factor affected by tourism in Kashan. Four indices are loaded in this factor, including decrease in residents’ peace, increase in local and family income, realization of value of the local culture and efforts for protecting it and increased quality of life. Environmental factor is another factor which is affected by tourism development. The factor has dedicated maximum number of variables to itself which shows that it is largely influenced by tourism development of the region. The last affected factor is framework. Unfortunately, tourism development of the region has been accompanied by many framework destructions.ResultsThe results demonstrate that tourism development has an important role in urban development. This effectiveness was 0.29 at the significance level of 0.000. Therefore, with a confidence of 99%, tourism development influences urban development. Tourism development in Kashan accounts for 0.67% development in cultural services (library, mosque, etc.), 0.66% development in facilities and infrastructure services (water and sewage network, transmission, etc.), 0.65% improvement in residents’ living and 0.52% increase in common services (hygienic service, accumulation of garbage, etc.).
