Innovation and sustainable development of smart cities

Abstract

A smart city presupposes an innovative society that connects technologies to people, contributing to the development of cities. It implies an approach in which knowledge works as a strategic tool to design efficient and sustainable supply of goods and services to the community. Based on systematic literature review, this research’s objective was to analyze the role of innovation in the sustainable development of smart cities and discuss the research gaps and trends on the topic. The analyzed documents were evaluated in terms of the number of annual publications, the regional mapping of publications, and areas of interest. A relationship network was drawn up with the keywords established by the authors in order to identify research trends and opportunities. Even though we are dealing with a recent topic, the systematic review showed that there are significant important approaches in the field of sustainability, but still little explored, as in the case of studies focused on smart health and governance of urban centers. On the other hand, studies related to the use of "big data" and sustainable development for cities stand out, indicating a possible trend in the scientific area. The increase of scientific interest in the topic was noticed in the analysis, not only because of the growing number of publications, but also because of the varied new research approaching subjects not yet explored.