On the issue of a favorable environment in the Smart City development program

The article examines acute problems of ensuring a favorable environment in urbanized areas. The author pays special attention to the greening of the urban economy by implementing the Smart City program's digital technologies. The study rests on research and particular scientific methods of cognition. The dialectical method made it possible to ensure a favorable environment in urban areas and, in conjunction with indicators, assess its quality. The comparative legal method is taken as a basis for identifying general trends in the use of new information technologies to determine the quality of a favorable environment. The article emphases that the implementation of information technology in ensuring a favorable environment contributes to an increase in the effectiveness of measures aimed at protecting it from negative influences. Simultaneously, indications of the effectiveness of the implementation of promising programs, including the Smart City program, use virtual indicators that are not accompanied by indicators that allow assessing the degree of environmental friendliness in quantitative terms. The article contains suggestions for improving the mechanism for protecting a favorable environment in the Smart City development program. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2021.