Dynamic capabilities of a smart city: An innovative approach to discovering urban problems and solutions

Abstract

With the recent increase in urban population worldwide, and the emergence of big data analytics, there is a growing interest in research on how cities are actively reconstructing themselves into a smart and sustainable city. Research studies have shown that the smart city system primarily focuses on integrating three components: economic, environmental, and social. The social component includes participatory democracy with citizen engagement. In many cases, smart cities focus on discovering answers for various urban problems through the adoption of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) designed to collect citizen feedback, or provide knowledge resources that can improve the quality of urban life. However, there are very few studies that attempt to close the information loop and link problems to solutions in one, unified framework. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate such a unified approach. Using the theoretical lens of dynamic capabilities, we expand the definition of a smart city to include the notion of an urban organization with dynamic capabilities, which operates within cycles of ‘sense’, ‘seize’, ‘align’, and ‘transform’ functions. Our case study focuses on the ‘sense’ and ‘seize’ steps, describing a medium-size city in Texas, where an open-ended survey is used as a collection instrument for citizen input and concept-based analytics are employed to convert such input into actionable insights. Our approach has the potential to assist policy makers in designing a comprehensive strategy toward the goal of the smart city.