Developing Electronic Cities and Its Role in Promoting Urban Services from Citizens’ Viewpoints (Case Study: Tabriz Metropolis)

In the current world, one of the most important fields of change and consequently  development in the  individuals' social life  happens through the  changes in information and communication fields. it is due to the imperious contemporary people's need to awareness so that they could adapt themselves  with  the changes' complicated situation and rapid rate. Meanwhile, cities, especially metropolises, as the  highly populated kernels and most attractive areas for living, have been deeply affected by such changes. In addition to the realization of a new pattern in cities, the establishment of smart cities made developed, creative, clean, cultural and science-oriented accessible for citizens and urban mangers. The current research integrates two specialized fields of urban services promotion and electronic city development, done in Tabriz Metropolitan. Research type is applied-developmental and its dominant approach is descriptive-analytical and causal. To collect data, field and documentary methods have been used. And, based on these, data has been gathered through 354 questionnaires in 10 districts of Tabriz. Then, using SPSS software  and Likert scale,the  data has been analyzed. The findings of the research indicate that after performing  one sample t-test, in Tabriz City in terms of selective indices, the t value was  equal to -14.974, which indicates instability of indices and the problems and challenges the city is facing in the status quo.According to the research findings, participants' attitudes show that there is a positive and significant correlation between citizens' information literacy and the acceptance of different representations of ICT and electronic city; it means that applying ICT and the city's becoming electronic can solve some part of these challenges. In addition, regarding the enhancement of information technology use and the establishment of smart cities, citizens believe that the establishment of smart city has significant effects on Tabriz urban development, and the obtained t value is 19.704. Totally speaking, more that 79% of citizens agree with the necessity of ICT development and the establishment of electronic city and their intent toward using ICT is higher. Therefore, Tabriz urban society accepts the effect of new technologies as a possibility and an opportunity for achieving promotion of urban services. Regarding the available challenges, applying IT and the city's becoming electronic as the precondition for development can help the planners and other experts involving the process of urban management and planning in different institutions for attaining and answering the new urban conditions. However, realizing the electronic city requires providing infrastructures, acculturation, training citizens of electronic commerce and etc.