A Meta-Analysis of Smart City Research and Its Future Research Implications

Abstract

The aspired potentials of the "Smart City" (SC) and its deficits in practice are essential reasons why the subject is assigned to a rapidly growing body of literature. This situation requires a specific review of the literature summarizing the research efforts to date into research branches and topics, unifying essential basic concepts and thus forming a solid basis for futher research. The present study first derives a basic structure of research by an analysis of the available literature reviews. Subsequently, a systematic examination of SC literature by means of an EBSCO data query identifies the current research topics and compiles a comprehensive view of the research topics. The present study is therefore not only of interest for scientific use, but also offers practitioners an overview of the various sub-areas of a SC, as well as of the currently available findings and experiences in relation to the implementation of SC (sub-)projects