From Smart City to Meaningful City: A Results-Oriented Perspective on Urban Experience Quality, Governance, and Sustainable Value Creation

Despite significant progress in urban planning, smart city initiatives, and city branding, many cities still struggle to translate strategic goals into a sustainably experienced urban quality of life. Early work in urban sociology, environmental psychology, and governance research pointed to shortcomings regarding social cohesion, autonomy, trust, and integrated sustainability. Current research (2023–2026) confirms that these aspects remain inadequately addressed despite technological innovations, data-driven management approaches, and institutional reforms. This article revisits this persistent issue and conceptualizes cities as complex service and value creation systems. It systematizes four key areas of tension in urban development: efficiency versus experiential quality, governance versus autonomy, technology versus trust, and sustainability as an external service versus integrated urban logic and provides an integrated framework.