Highlighting smart city mirages in public perceptions: A Twitter sentiment analysis of four African smart city projects

《Highlighting smart city mirages in public perceptions: A Twitter sentiment analysis of four African smart city projects》

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作者: Robert Nutifafa Arku;Adrian Buttazzoni;Kwadwo Agyapon-Ntra;Elmond Bandauko

关键字: Africa;NRC emotion lexicon;Sentiment analysis;Smart cities;Smart City mirages;Twitter

作者单位: University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Geography and Planning, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;University of Waterloo, Faculty of Environment, School of Planning, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;Carnegie Mellon University Africa, College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kigali, Rwanda;University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Social Science, Department of Geography and Environment, London, Ontario, Canada;University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Geography and Planning, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;University of Waterloo, Faculty of Environment, School of Planning, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;Carnegie Mellon University Africa, College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kigali, Rwanda;University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Social Science, Department of Geography and Environment, London, Ontario, Canada

摘要: ‘Smart cities’ strategies are often promoted as a panacea to existing urban planning issues such as local economic development, public safety, traffic congestion, and infrastructure maintenance. While these initiatives continue to be increasingly sought out and publicly promoted by governments across the globe, little is known about the influence of smart city branding campaigns on public perceptions of such projects. To explore this dynamic, we conducted a sentiment analysis of tweets regarding four smart city projects in Africa using the NRC Emotion Lexicon. The analysis revealed strong and consistent positive associations with words annotated with the emotions of Anticipation, Trust, and Joy. Based on these cross-case trends, we speculate that given their underwhelming outputs, the larger smart city agenda and its accompanying strategic positive framing have contrived a potentially pervasive and illusionary sentiment of “smart city mirages” among the public consciousness.