Size does matter: A maturity model for the special needs of small and medium-sized smart cities

Abstract

A significant amount of people live in small and medium-sized cities. In the context of smart cities and their further development, these are still often neglected in scientific considerations. We present a maturity model developed by a design science approach on the basis of theory and practice, specifically for the needs of small and medium-sized cities, in order to support them in their development into a fully comprehensive smart city. We derived requirements from the literature on the one hand and on the basis of expert interviews on the other hand. We evaluated our model using the example of the medium-sized town of Bad Hersfeld. Our maturity model can be easily applied by those responsible in small and medium-sized cities and provides a means of comparison with other cities of a similar size. It can further help city leaders to plan the next step in their smart city.