Work

Understanding Trust in the Smart City Through Focus Groups in Hong Kong

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This paper examines the role of focus groups in mixed-methods research, focusing on trust dynamics within the smart city. It takes the Asian metropolis of Hong Kong as its empirical case. It successfully validates focus groups as a research method across three dimensions. Firstly, focus groups facilitate the comparison of in-depth discussions across various demographic groups; secondly, focus groups enable collective deliberation to uncover hidden relationships; and, thirdly, when correctly employed, focus groups can bridge qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) research to enhance triangulation. In this study, the findings of focus groups substantiate the data trust paradox identified in previous surveys and interviews: high public support for technology in a low-trust environment, with explicit privacy concerns related to data management. The focus group results reinforce distinct insights in relation to birth origins and political identities, reconfirming differential trust among demographic groups. This paper demonstrates tailored focus groups as an effective approach to unraveling the trust dynamics in smart city strategies.

Source: Urban Science

DOI: 10.3390/urbansci9040123

Authors: Calvin Ming Tsun Lai, Alistair Cole, Dionysios Stivas

Institutions: Technische Universität Darmstadt, Sciences Po Lyon, Triangle : Action, Discours, Pensée politique et économique, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Language: English

Topic: Smart Cities and Technologies

Subfield: Media Technology

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,930