Smart City Governance for Sustainable Public Value Generation

Abstract

This position paper belongs to a series of contributions on sustainable public value generation in urban areas. The article looks at how the complex transition process cities will be experiencing in the coming decades may be governed. In particular, the discussion investigates the role played by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as well as how the intelligence of smart cities may be oriented towards the generation of sustainable public value. The topic is analysed from a value-oriented perspective and in the light of almost two decades of technology-driven innovation in both the private and the public sector. Two conceptual frameworks are proposed. The first one identifies the main contributions offered by ICTs, namely: the enablement of new production, distribution and governance processes; the transformation of organizational and institutional arrangements; and the information of individual choices and behaviours. The second one highlights the trade-offs to be managed and the principles to be applied for turning city intelligence into sustainable development.