Smart governance: A key factor for smart cities implementation

Abstract

Smart Governance is one dimension of Smart Cities, it relies on good governance such as open (i.e. transparent), accountable, collaborative (i.e. involving all stakeholders) and participatory (i.e. citizens' participation) principles and on Electronic Government (e-Government). This paper tries to answer the question — “What governance models are being implemented in smart cities?”. To answer this question, six interviews were conducted with people involved in Smart Cities initiatives from Brazil, Singapore, Colombia, Portugal, and Uruguay. The empirical analysis of the interviews shows that Smart Cities and e-Government present a similar evolutionary trajectory, both converging to smart governance. The paper concludes that all the initiatives underlie heavily in technologies and follow the same sort of smart governance model, a mix of collaborative, open and participatory governance. We claim that advanced technologies, innovation and smart governance are essential prerequisites for developing smart, creative, innovative and sustainable cities.