Multi-dimensional analysis of smart city indicators in the period of the Covid-19 pandemic; The case study of Mashhad city

In general, smart cities rely on information and communication technology to improve urban life, and smart city concepts are known as efforts to improve urban performance and the desire to provide solutions for urban problems in order to provide a higher quality of human life. As we saw during the Covid-19 era, governments around the world have turned to mandatory urban quarantine to make social distancing more effective. In these conditions, limited physical movements and daily activities were done regularly through remote work, which can be seen as the importance of urban smartness. In this research, the realization of a smart city with electronic and virtual government infrastructures and the smartening of government services by applying the main components of smart dynamics, smart economy, smart environment, smart governance, and smart people during the outbreak of Covid-19 in Mashhad were discussed. This research, in terms of method, is apart from quantitative-qualitative research, in terms of purpose, it is apart from applied research, and in terms of nature, and it is descriptive and analytical. In order to create a base of existing primary factors about the factors affecting the smart city, the technique of environmental scanning and literature review have been used. To collect information, documentary and survey methods were used, which used the questionnaire method. The results showed that the components of smart people, smart governance, and smart economy had the highest correlation with the concept of a smart city. In fact, by improving the mentioned components, the concept of a smart city will be realized largely. In the end, it can be said that the most effective component is smart people, and according to the results obtained from the statistical tests of the spread of the Covid-19 disease in the city of Mashhad, it has increased the component of people, governance, and smart economy.