Civic knowledge management in Smart City Living Labs: a case study of water management in Gimhae, South Korea

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, the notion of Smart City Living Labs has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners. These open innovation environments aim to resolve various urban problems with stakeholders, including citizens, requiring frequent exchange of knowledge. Analyzing and managing this civic knowledge can expand ideas and co-create new smart city services and solutions. Despite its potential, there is a lack of research on civic knowledge management in Smart City Living Labs. This research proposed a conceptual framework for civic knowledge and the knowledge creation process, exploring the Gimhae Sambang Water Living Lab, a South Korean government-led Smart City project. The case study, based on exploration and exploitation approaches, examined how civic knowledge is shared as tacit knowledge within the Living Lab, conceptualized into explicit knowledge, and evolved into network knowledge. It also explored how exploration and exploitation interact complementarily in the civic knowledge creation process. This research contributes to the discussion on the role of civic knowledge management in Smart City Living Labs, emphasizing the significant interaction between citizens and the importance of managing their knowledge..