Abstract
Cities are developing strategies to deal with the complex challenges of global change and sustainability. These initiatives have involved the implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a good driver for achieving sustainability because digital transformation can boost sustainable development strategies, providing opportunities to accelerate transformation. Smart City (SC) models built on empowering people in making public decisions favor access to sustainable development solutions based on knowledge and innovation. Nonetheless, SC experiences around the world denote divergent conceptions of SCs which could lead to different SCs construction. It deserves a more thorough understanding of the nature of collaboration in different settings. Therefore, this paper contributes to the debate on the different uses of ICTs in SCs construction in developing vs. developed countries, by examining the use of ICTs for creating collaborative environments in a sample of SCs in different countries, depending on their economic level, and seeking to identify differences in the objectives pursued by city governments with the use of these technologies. To achieve this aim, e-participation platforms, apps or social media platforms (European and Central Asia SCs) are examined for identifying SCs construction differences between developed vs. developing countries. The findings of this paper put an emphasis on the need for taking into account the differences among SCs in developed vs. developing countries when raking or when performance measurement is designed, because the assessment should be tailored to the cities’ particular visions and priorities for achieving their objectives.
Highlights
Cities are central for transformative change in improving sustainability [1] and are increasingly developing strategies and action plans to deal with the complex challenges of global change and sustainability [2]
A smart city (SC) is identified based on the European Union definition, as “a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies, for the benefit of its inhabitants and businesses” [42]
We have identified the SCs between SCs located in high-income vs. upper middle-income countries with a binary variable (0/1) and we have examined the number of social media platforms offered by sample SCs, the existence of an e-participation platform (0/1) and the number of apps created by the city government
Summary
Cities are central for transformative change in improving sustainability [1] and are increasingly developing strategies and action plans to deal with the complex challenges of global change and sustainability [2]. The e-participation provides advantages and benefits such as democratic and legitimacy gains, social inclusion, public policy and service quality improvement and contribution to education [29], which makes it considered a main aim of SCs to achieve greater levels of their citizens’ quality of life [30] Based on this premise, relying on the implementation of ICTs, smart governance is told to create effective, sustainable communities [31], enabling citizen collaboration and public value creation over time [11], and viewing the city as a community among different actors seeking to improve the citizens’ quality of life [30]. To test previous research questions, the section of this paper performs empirical research to examine the e-participation tools used by SCs and whether there are real and relevant differences in this matter, with the aim of showing different SCs construction patterns
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