Where's Wally?:in search of citizen perspectives on the smart city

This paper builds upon an earlier conference publication by the authors, offering contributions based on a systematic literature review and qualitative study. The paper begins by drawing attention to the paucity of “citizen”—more appropriately, “situated”—perspectives on what a smart city should and could be. The paper then addresses that absence by detailing a research project that explored how people in London, Manchester, and Glasgow responded to the smart city concept. Participants were asked questions regarding their prior familiarity with the phrase “smart city”, their thoughts relating to what it means for a city to be smart, and what a “true” smart city might mean to them. The paper analyses and offers a synthesis of the responses collected throughout the research with the dominant rhetoric about smart cities, as identified through a recent systematic literature review, thereby providing a critical assessment of the values underlying the smart city. It aims to explore and present some of the expectations that citizens hold for their cities’ politicians, policy makers, planners, academics, and technology companies. We believe that these perspectives from citizens can be used to inform responsible development, spatially and socially inclusive technologies, and ultimately more resilient cities

Measuring the Public Value of e-Government: Trust in Measurement Processes or Processes of Building Trust?

In the recent past several authors have addressed the issue of the 'e\u2010Government paradox' which is exemplified by the contrast between the level of investments made on deploying ICT\u2010enabled services and the little impact produced and/or demonstrated so far. To this regard, in most maturing countries, main barriers hindering the adoption of e\u2010 Government services are those related to the lack of both a structured policy measurement process and an effective stakeholders' engagement. In particular, critical success factor for e\u2010Government adoption seems to be a transparent and trustworthy policy decision\u2010making process and its key prerequisite is the definition and implementation of a well organized and fully participatory measurement framework, enhancing stakeholder trust in policy decision. Starting from these findings, the paper explores the existing relationship between measurement and trust on e\u2010Government decision\u2010 making processes, discussing which could be the possible trade\u2010off between high quality measurement of public e\u2010services and the high level of trust in policy decisions for their adoption and long term sustainability. The methodological approach underpinning the analysis is based upon a critical review of main e\u2010Government measurement frameworks, selected according to their effective capability to support policy decision\u2010making in implementing e\u2010Government strategies as well as their expected value to reinforce 'trust' with citizens and stakeholders.. As a result of the analysis a new measurement model capable of measuring the public value of e\u2010Government services is proposed. The model has been tested in a real context of usage for the measurement of the Telematics and Informatics Policies Implementation Plan (PiTER) of the Emilia\u2010Romagna Region in Italy in the period 2011\u20102013. The paper therefore discusses the main findings emerged from the concrete application of the proposed model in light of the feedback received from the public administration and the stakeholders participating to the measurement process. It then outlines its conditions of applicability in other policy contexts as well as new possible research directions

Measuring the Public value of e-Government: The eGEP2.0 model

After having briefly introduced the issue of measuring e-Government vis-\ue0-vis its impact evaluation, the paper provides an overview of the state of the art with regard to measurement of e-Government, addressing the debate on the relationship between 'public value' creation and e-Government, outlining some of the approaches advanced to measure the public value of ICT interventions in the public sector. In light of this discussion, the paper then proposes the eGEP-2.0 model which, building on its predecessor eGEP, overcome many of the limitations of existing frameworks, and more importantly pave the way for an effective impact assessment of e-Government initiatives, in relation to the policy-making process and related governance needed for their design and implementation. The results of the application of the eGEP-2.0 model on the Telematics and Informatics Plan (PiTER) of the Emilia Romagna Region in Italy are then presented and discussed. The paper concludes providing some reflections on the experience and outlining future research challenges

An Introduction to Smart City Research: A review of The Past And The Future

Smart city is a growing area of research. Its scope is broad as it touches individuals’ life, government, and environment. Advancement in digital technologies, particularly the Internet of Things, have enabled cities to become smarter and thus affected many structures (physical, social, etc.). Given such broad scope and the effects the smart city could bring about, the growing numbers of research seems to be inadequate. This paper attempts to review the past studies and identify what have been done and not done. Smart city research related to Southeast Asia in particular is also looked at in this paper. The literature was categorised and discussed under three main aspects concerning the area of management information systems, namely business, organization and technology. Gaps are identified, and future research are called for

Tacit Web: Entrepreneurial Discovery, Institutional Complexity and Internet Diffusion

This dissertation investigates how institutional frameworks and entrepreneurial discovery processes condition internet diffusion. While internet and internet-based technologies have received considerable scholarly attention, the dissertation emphasizes tacit elements in understanding internet diffusion. In order to do so, it incorporates perspectives on insttitutional complexity stemming from interactions of formal and informal institutions and different institutional logics. Empiral part consists both macro level comparisons of Estonia and Slovenia as well as micro level analysis of internet diffusion processes within Estonia. Estonia and Slovenia are selected for comparison because of considerable variance in insitutional frameworks. At the same time, both countries are relatively small and members of the European Union. This allows to focus on specific institutional configurations and path-dependencies in constraining and enabling the diffusion of internet. I find that internet is diffused more extensively and intensively in Estonia. Different socio-economic groups use more sophisticated online services in Estonia than in Slovenia. Once specific institutional configurations in general and in the telecom sector in particular are considered then it emerges that insitutional frameworks in Estonia have been more facilitative of entrepreneurial discovery processes over time. As a result, supply and demand for innovative online services in Estonia is greater than in Slovenia. After comparative perspective on two countries, the dissertation proceeds to analyze specific cases of online initiatives in Estonia such as internet banking and internet voting. Examination of outcomes shows how some of these initiatives have been successful and created reasons for adoption and use of internet on the individual level leading to a greater diffusion on macro level. My analysis demonstrates that positive outcomes have often been unintended result of experimentation through the process of entrepreneurial discovery within the context of institutions and path-dependencies. Evidence for this finding is bolstered by study of heterogeneous cases of various ICT initiatives. By emphazing institutional complexity and policy heterogeneity, the dissertation illuminates and explains the tacit nature of internet diffusion in a specific context of Estonia. This implies that Estonia has followed a unique developmental trajectory which cannot be generalized and transferred to other countries

From E-Government to T-Government: A Malaysian Citizens’ Readiness Study

The Malaysian government has embarked on a transformational program that will not only drive the country’s economic transformation but will also affect the public services delivery. This new agenda is in line with concepts of TGovernment movement that has begun in Europe at the end of last decade. In this paper, we look into the readiness of Malaysian citizens towards the implementation of TGovernment services. An empirical investigation is used through the construction of an instrument to gauge the citizens’ readiness. Two important constructs used are the usage of egovernment services and the perception of e-participation. The instrument was delivered through an online survey and distributed to Malaysian Internet users. Two hundred and thirty respondents took part in the survey and their responses were analysed to reveal usage pattern of current e-government services and their perception towards e-participation. The results of the analysis revealed two important findings. The first finding is that there is a high percentage of usage of egovernment services amongst Malaysian Internet users. The second findings disclosed that a high usage is associated with positive perception towards e-participation. These findings have provided preliminary evidence for future work of citizen-centric requirements for T-Government services

Exploring Current Trends in Scientific Research on Smart Specialisation

This paper describes current trends in scientific research on Smart Specialisation by answering the following questions: (1) How many scientific publications on Smart Specialisation have been produced since this concept emerged and what are their characteristics in terms of type and influence?; (2) How large is the community of researchers, organisations and countries working in this field?; (3) What is their influence and productivity?; (4) What are the main regional knowledge hubs and the key knowledge producers?; and (5) What are the highly-cited knowledge objects published by the research community? The answers are sourced from a bibliometric analysis of the scientific publications produced during the first 12 years of research on Smart Specialisation

Perspectives of smart cities in South Africa through applied systems analysis approach: a case of Bloemfontein

There is a changed perspective regarding the development of cities and increasingly many countries in the West and some developing countries, as in South Africa, are making concerted attempts to transform their cities to smart cities. Using the context of the city of Bloemfontein, South Africa and drawing on the perceptions of stakeholders, the objective of the paper is to offer a perspective on such a transformation. The study first assessed the performance of various factors and attributes that influence three important aspects of a smart city: economy, mobility and governance system. It then recorded the viewpoints of stakeholders about how these aspects can contribute to the development of a smart city. Further, Applied Systems Analysis (ASA) linked System Dynamics (SD) conceptual models based on the interlinkage and causal feedback relationships among various factors under each aspect were developed, which could assist in offering perspectives that would enable eliciting of policy interventions to develop smart cities. Findings indicate that there are potentials and positive indicators in all three aspects. It is emerged that reinforcement of the inter-relationship among entrepreneurship, innovation, productivity, economic image and international embeddedness will foster a smart economy. Efficient public transportation and advancement of Information Communication Technology (ICT) system will strengthen local accessibility and ensure an innovative, sustainable and safe transportation system that will result in smart mobility. Effective participation of stakeholders in the decision-making process alongside the elected city council and transparency will aid smart governance. The combined effect of these attributes should enable the transformation of the city to a smart city