Using A Sports Technology Maturity Model For Evaluating Smart Cities

This paper proposes the concept of a maturity model for smart cities based on the deployment of sport-related technologies. The potential of sport as a catalyst for the development of smart cities is enormous and transversal: sport technological integrations in urban environments can enhance public health, community engagement, and environmental sustainability. The paper highlights innovative practices and proposes a framework for evaluation of smart cities maturity that incorporates sports facilities and technology. Our vision is grounded in the EU Expert Group's definition of sport and its broad social-economic impact in modern societies. To analyze and classify initiatives in sport and smart cities, we propose a framework based on nine functional domains of smart cities and five core technologies for sports and innovation. Sport has significant potential to drive smart city applications in various sectors. Moreover, sport and smart cities share common technological enablers like sensors, IoT, intelligent materials, big data analytics and artificial intelligence, fostering an environment leading to their convergence into an integrated ecosystem. Applying a simple classification of projects similar to the Software Capability Maturity Model, our aim is to provide a preliminary model for calculating the "distance" from the optimal use of sport in the various functional domains, thus providing indications about intervention areas to cities stakeholders.