MORAL CITY: The Development of a Moral City

Abstract

MORAL CITY: The Development of a Moral City presents both conceptual and operational frameworks for urban development that place people and values at the center. It connects the principles of participatory development with contemporary urban management (such as smart cities, livable cities, and sustainable cities), enabling technology, infrastructure, and public policy to progress alongside public morality, responsibility, and equity. The article emphasizes that the heart of a Moral City is not about doing projects for the people, but rather working with the people, by opening spaces for them to jointly define problems, make decisions, take action, and share responsibility thereby creating collective power and a sense of ownership of the city by its own citizens. It also presents the case of Moral Provinces as a model for area-based moral development, operating through the “three networks”: operational, policy, and academic networks. This includes processes such as assessing moral capital, organizing moral assemblies, developing moral promotion leaders in each area, and managing knowledge to expand outcomes to neighboring provinces. This framework reflects a moral social ecosystem that fosters virtue as a shared public agenda, transforming it into tangible behavioral and structural changes.

However, there remain key challenges, including attitudes that view morality as distant, centralized decision-making within the state, unclear social motivation, and underdeveloped moral indicators and data systems. The article thus proposes future directions: (1) designing area-based moral measurement tools linked to policy, (2) designing and testing incentive systems to enhance community participation and ownership, and (3) integrating religion and culture with urban technology as a driving force to bring Moral City into everyday practice. In conclusion, Moral City is a practical framework area-based, people-driven, guided by morality, and supported by technology to elevate cities toward being “smart, livable, and sustainable,” grounded in moral integrity and humanity.