About 6,000 years after the emergence of the first cities, humanity faces the challenges and consequences of the development of cities, which threaten the quality of life of people and the world environment. To date, more than half of world’s population live in urban areas and, by 2050, one estimates that almost 70% of them will live in cities. Thus, in order to avoid a total collapse, cities’ urban planning must be rethought urgently by means of new planning and management models largely supported by robust digital technologies, innovations and a sustainable agenda. In this scenario, the concept of smart city emerges yet without a formal consensus. Smart city definitions have been derived from interdisciplinary concepts applied to cities most of them based on the management and heavy use of information and communication technology in cities. Thus, to allow a better comprehension of what is understood by smart city mainly under the perspective of emerging markets, this work seeks to identify what is the social representation of smart city amongst Brazilian citizens, comparing same to the extant literature on smart city definition.