Smart city: an advanced framework for analyzing public sentiment orientation toward recycled water

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic of the past several years has had a profound impact on all aspects of life, including resource utilization. One notable example is the increased demand for freshwater, a lifeblood of our planet, on the other hand, the smart city vision aims to attain a smart water management goal by investing in innovative solutions such as recycled water systems. However, the problem lies in the public’s sentiment and willingness to use this new resource which discourages investors and hinders the development of this field. Therefore, in our work, we applied sentiment analysis using an extended version of the fuzzy logic and neural network model from our previous work, to find out the general public opinion regarding recycled water and to assess the effects of sentiments on the public’s readiness to use this resource. Our analysis was based on a dataset of over 1 million text content from 2013 to 2022. The results show, from spatio-temporal perspectives, that sentiment orientation and acceptance-behavior towards using recycled water have increased positively. Additionally, the public is more concerned in areas driven by the smart city vision than in areas of medium and low economic development, where investment in sensibilization campaigns is needed.