Introduction to Smart Cities, Smart Government, and Smart Governance Minitrack

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Defining and assessing the transformational nature of smart city governance: Insights from four European cases

Smart cities are a new approach to urban development based on the extensive use of information and communication technologies and on the promotion of environmental sustainability, economic development and innovation. The article is aimed at discussing whether the adoption of a smart city approach entails the transformation of existing institutional structures and administrative practices. To this end, four cases of European smart cities are analysed: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Turin and Vienna. The article describes their models of governance, investigates the level of transformation that occurred in their governmental structures, outlines the main drawbacks and identifies possible connections with the emergent paradigm of the New Public Governance

Prospects to create “smart cities” in Russia: Classification of problems and their solutions

Due to high urbanization rate the issues of smart and sustainable city planning become very important currently. The planning and development of the concept “smart city” is based on these issues. Reasonable planning of city environment makes opportunities for city competitiveness increase and reduces negative trends in their development. Modern interpretations and approaches to the “smart city” concept are based on many factors. Among them are the increase of economic potential and budget security, the decline of ecological impact, human resources capitalization based on digital technologies application in society development. The review of literature that has been made allows us to classify “smart cities”, to determine features and to specify aims and tasks for their development. Using a definitional analysis the original comprehension of the “smart city” concept has been suggested. According to this interpretation a “smart city” is considered to be a city which resources are efficiently used by all participants, first of all by city- dwellers providing comfort, safety and eco – friendly environment. The analysis of Russian and foreign experience in the field of the “smart city” concept implementation, the results of a particularized inquiry and interview including those organized with the international professional social network Linkedin allowed us to reveal key challenges in “smart city” development. The most crucial among them are organizational, financial, infrastructural and technological obstacles that prevent the “smart city” concept implementation. We have substantiated that the solutions of the revealed problems in the case study of Russia first of all should concern the digitization of a city utilities sector, power engineering, building and public transport. They are also associated with wide-spread application of integrated digital platforms in management and education, in control over environmental pollution in the frameworks of the “Digital economy in the Russian Federation” program implementation. The prospects to create smart cities in Russia have been determined by means of identification of conditions for the solution of the acute tasks of digitization of regional and city agglomeration economy. We have formulated the trends of relevant studies of “smart cities” in the perspectives of development and implementation priority of the project “smart city” at all levels of public management. Also a methodology to calculate a long-term economic effect that will be caused by the project implementation has been developed

Value Creation through Urban Data Platforms: A Conceptual Framework

In the context of smart cities, data-driven innovation and digital transformation have received increasing attention from practitioners and academics. The data-centric nature of smart city transformations highlights the essential role of urban data platform (UDP) to manage large and heterogeneous urban data sets and to facilitate interaction among data providers and users in a city ecosystem. To realize value creation through UDP, a comprehensive understanding of the key UDP dimensions and how they influence UDP adoption, use, and value creation are required. For this purpose, we first identify key UDP dimensions through a literature review. Second, by exploring and discussing their relationships with an expert panel, we develop a framework for understanding value creation through UDPs. By identifying key dimensions of UDP and their effects on value creation through UDP, the proposed framework provides a systematic and comprehensive approach for understanding UDP adoption, use, and value creation. Thereby, this study helps city policymakers and business developers in realizing value from UDPs in city ecosystem

Designing Guidelines for Smart City Collaboration Tools

Cities around the world have started pilots to experiment with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to tackle urban problems, optimize city services and enhance the quality of life for citizens. At the moment, many smart city pilots have difficulty scaling up beyond the pilot stage. Effective collaboration between quadruple-helix partners in the smart city is both crucial and challenging for promoting the development, implementation, and scaling-up of smart city pilots. However, professionals in the smart city field lack easy-to-use tools to resolve smart collaborative governance challenges. To bridge this gap, this paper will use a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology to develop generic high-level guidelines for smart collaborative governance tools in the smart city context. These generic high-level guidelines also include guidelines that help to resolve dilemmas in the design of collaboration tools regarding their desired outcomes, complexity, and scope

Online Activities to Mobilize Smart Cities

A smart city is a dynamic living system that contains hard (unchanging) and soft (changing) parts that each involve the implementation of respective technologies. Prior research has focused on infrastructure, technology, and social components when discussing smart city structure. In this paper, we explore key elements within the soft aspects of smart city initiatives enabling the organization of a dynamic structure. To do so, we focus on human behavior, which we illustrate by analyzing online activities in two cases: one is related to a smart city while the other focuses on an online community. Based on the analysis, we identify key elements that reveal how people participate and become engaged in order to provide lessons to be taken into account within smart city initiatives. Within online activities, the key elements we note are related to knowledge generation, information sharing of common interests, and the creation of collective action

Multilevel Design for Smart Communities – The Case of Building a Local Online Neighborhood Social Community

Smart cities and communities aim for social well-being. Mobilizing and integrating various institutions, actors, and resources are crucial when building and instantiating smart community initiatives. The design of such an arrangement is a complex phenomenon, difficult to conduct systematically and to observe empirically. We address this challenge by applying a multilevel design framework for service systems to an ongoing design science research project. The research project pursues the goal of building a neighborhood community as an instantiation of smart communities by activating and leveraging local institutions, actors, and resources on an IT-enabled engagement platform. We demonstrate how this multilevel perspective informs the design process for building smart communities. Based on micro-level observations, the interdependence of engagement-stimulating mechanisms related to the platform’s design at the meso-level, and design implications for the institutional arrangement at the macro-level are emphasized as inseparable design activities for mobilizing and integrating actors and resources

The Role of Smart Cities on Smart Healthcare Management

This qualitative study examines the role of Smart Cities in smart healthcare management. Interviews with eight practitioners in the field were conducted and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings highlight the significant contributions of Smart Cities in healthcare, such as improved data collection, analysis, and communication between providers and patients. Challenges include the integration of healthcare technologies within Smart City infrastructures and addressing privacy and security concerns. The research underscores the importance of robust digital infrastructures and collaborative efforts between public and private sectors to support the implementation of smart healthcare services in Smart Cities. Recommendations include enhancing adaptability to new technologies and improving communication between healthcare providers and patients

The challenges of urban ageing : making cities age-friendly in Europe

Urban ageing is an emerging domain that deals with the population of older people living in cities. The ageing of society is a positive yet challenging phenomenon, as population ageing and urbanisation are the culmination of successful human development. One could argue whether the city environment is an ideal place for people to grow old and live at an old age compared to rural areas. This viewpoint article explores and describes the challenges that are encountered when making cities age-friendly in Europe. Such challenges include the creation of inclusive neighbourhoods and the implementation of technology for ageing-in-place. Examples from projects in two age-friendly cities in The Netherlands (The Hague) and Poland (Cracow) are shown to illustrate the potential of making cities more tuned to the needs of older people and identify important challenges for the next couple of years. Overall, the global ageing of urban populations calls for more age-friendly approaches to be implemented in our cities. It is a challenge to prepare for these developments in such a way that both current and future generations of older people can benefit from age-friendly strategies

The challenges of urban ageing:Making cities age-friendly in Europe

Urban ageing is an emerging domain that deals with the population of older people living in cities. The ageing of society is a positive yet challenging phenomenon, as population ageing and urbanisation are the culmination of successful human development. One could argue whether the city environment is an ideal place for people to grow old and live at an old age compared to rural areas. This viewpoint article explores and describes the challenges that are encountered when making cities age-friendly in Europe. Such challenges include the creation of inclusive neighbourhoods and the implementation of technology for ageing-in-place. Examples from projects in two age-friendly cities in The Netherlands (The Hague) and Poland (Cracow) are shown to illustrate the potential of making cities more tuned to the needs of older people and identify important challenges for the next couple of years. Overall, the global ageing of urban populations calls for more age-friendly approaches to be implemented in our cities. It is a challenge to prepare for these developments in such a way that both current and future generations of older people can benefit from age-friendly strategies