Upscaling Smart-City Initiatives: A Systematic Review and A Research Agenda

Smart city approaches have tended to be top-down, techno-centric/corporate and expensive approaches which are promoted by large, global companies. Smart city narratives focus on their expected capacity to improve citizens’ quality of life. However, can technology-driven and municipally-led smart city initiatives address the issues faced by poor and vulnerable communities in urban and peri-urban areas? This paper explores key aspects of the implementation of smart city approaches in the Global South taking as a case study the Colombian city of Medellín, which has been recognized internationally for its social innovation and is considered a smart city by the Inter-American Development Bank. The paper draws on a local, national and international literature review; interviews with key local stakeholders involved in smart city initiatives; and an international workshop on smart cities and community data management organized by the authors in Medellín and bringing together three perspectives: academia, government and community. The paper provides a reflection on the concept of smart city, data management and citizen participation in smart city initiatives in Medellín, contrasting each of these with the literature. Our research found gaps between broader conceptualisations and community-oriented intentions in smart city initiatives in Medellín, as well as very low uptake and reported impact of such initiatives. We conclude that a redefinition of smart city approaches that may respond to the needs of the population while improving liveability is still urgently needed, and we set out a series of questions for an international research agenda on low-income community-oriented smart city research.

Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities. Based on the exploration of a wide and extensive array of literature from various disciplinary areas we identify eight critical factors of smart city initiatives: management and organization, technology, governance, policy context, people and communities, economy, built infrastructure, and natural environment. These factors form the basis of an integrative framework that can be used to examine how local governments are envisioning smart city initiatives. The framework suggests directions and agendas for smart city research and outlines practical implications for government professionals.

Discrepancies in perceptions of smart city initiatives in Saint Petersburg, Russia

Understanding Smart Cities: Innovation ecosystems, technological advancements, and societal challenges

Buildings are among the largest contributors to global energy consumption and carbon emissions, making their transformation essential for advancing environmental sustainability goals. Innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twins (DTs) offer powerful tools for optimizing performance in smart, green, and zero-energy buildings. However, existing research remains fragmented—AI and AI-driven DT applications are often confined to isolated functions or specific building types—resulting in a limited, non-cohesive understanding of their collective potential in the built environment. This fragmentation, in turn, has hindered the development of integrated strategies that link building-level efficiencies with the broader environmental objectives of smart cities. To address these interrelated gaps, this study conducts a comprehensive systematic review of leading-edge AI and AI-powered DT solutions applied across smart, green, and zero-energy buildings. It aims to provide a holistic understanding of how these solutions enhance environmental performance through the analysis of key building-related indicators. By synthesizing, comparing, and evaluating recent research, it examines how AI and AI-powered DT technologies facilitate integrated, system-level strategies that promote environmentally sustainable smart practices across the built environment. The study reveals that AI enhances smart buildings by enabling dynamic energy optimization, occupant-centered environmental control, improved thermal comfort, renewable energy integration, and predictive system management. In green buildings, AI contributes to greater resource efficiency, minimizes construction and operational waste, promotes the use of sustainable materials, strengthens cost estimation and risk assessment processes, and supports adaptive design strategies. For zero-energy buildings, AI facilitates multi-objective optimization, advances explainable and transparent AI-driven control systems, supports performance benchmarking against net and nearly zero-energy standards, and enables renewable energy integration tailored to diverse climatic and regulatory contexts. Furthermore, AI-powered DTs enable real-time environmental monitoring, predictive analytics, anomaly detection, and adaptive operational strategies, thereby enhancing building performance, energy optimization, and resilience. At broader spatial scales, these technologies foster interconnected urban ecosystems, advancing environmental sustainability, sustainable development, and smart city initiatives. Building on these insights, this study introduces a novel integrated framework that positions AI and AI-driven DTs as systemic enablers of environmentally sustainable smart built and urban environments, emphasizing their cross-scale convergence in promoting carbon neutrality, circular economy principles, climate resilience, and regenerative urban strategies. The findings offer actionable pathways for advancing research agendas, inform practical strategies for building and urban system design, and provide evidence-based recommendations for policymakers committed to fostering more intelligent, sustainable, and resilient urban futures. This work establishes AI and AI-driven DTs as transformative catalysts for realizing the next generation of resource-efficient, carbon-neutral, and ecologically integrated urban ecosystems.

Digital entrepreneurship is playing an increasingly prominent role for economic growth and development. However, the most effective methods of facilitating it remain unclear, as scholars continue to debate the factors that contribute to its success. We therefore conducted a comprehensive systematic literature review by searching the Web of Science and Scopus databases for empirical studies examining the drivers of successful digital entrepreneurship. By this first review paper on this topic, we were able to identify a total of 45 different drivers, encompassing subjective and objective factors at the individual, organizational, and regional/national levels. While certain drivers were specific to the digital context, such as smart-city initiatives, many aligned with those identified in broader research on entrepreneurial success, such as the educational attainment of founders. To enhance our understanding and facilitate action in promoting digital entrepreneurship, we propose a multi-level conceptual framework that places greater emphasis on specific digital-related drivers.

Objective: To verify how Knowledge Management (KM) is being associated with Smart Cities (SC) initiatives, through the analysis of the scientific production of both themes in indexing journals in the last 10 years. This article has three research questions: 1. What are the methodological approaches adopted to investigate research problems on KM in SC. 2. What are the research topics investigated on KM in SC? and 3. How is research on KM characterized in SC?Relevance/originality: This research analyzes how KM is associated with SC initiatives and proposes a research agenda on KM in SC.Methodology/approach: The method used was a semi-systematic literature review.Main results: The research found gaps concerning the adaptation of KM models in the context of SC, the selection of relevant variables for the analysis of KM in SC, the effect of KM on the results of SC initiatives, and how actions emerging issues of transparency and governance can influence or be influenced by KM.Theoretical/methodological contributions: The article builds an overview of the collaboration of two fields in evidence today. In addition to the analysis of all articles in the sample, which includes quantitative data, the authors bring a proposed research agenda with the aim of promoting the maturation of the theme. The main theoretical contributions are in the proposal of the prescriptive framework and the research agenda.Social/management contributions: In a context of excess knowledge, decision-making becomes complex. Thus, understanding how KM can act in the complex context of SC helps managers to visualize alternatives to problems, selection, and organization of knowledge that affect decision-making.

Developing Smart Cities: An Integrated Framework

This is a conceptual paper interfacing community engagement and migration flows in relation to smart cities’ development. The paper notes community engagement as a crucial variable, in general and with reference to the aspired for impact on migration flows. It conceptualizes community engagement as an operationalizable construct for strategic design. The idea of community engagement is there in most multi-stakeholder projects and initiatives. Enhancing design and execution for making it count for superior performance of smart city initiatives is what we seek to develop here. The paper is also oriented to deliver an agenda for field research based on hypotheses it comes forth with.

Regional governments commonly use e-government technologies when setting out to deliver value to the public. While the use of technology has become a standard of modern public management, risks and limitations associated with its use, such as lack of trust from constituents, need to be carefully examined in light of city experiences, an endeavor that is still scarcely undertaken in the context of smart city initiatives. This paper examines trust regarding online platform usage in St. Petersburg, Russia. The research questionnaire was based on a set of variables that characterize the experience of using information technologies in different areas and in terms of attitudes towards them. A survey of 800 St. Petersburg residents was conducted (the sampling error does not exceed 4%, the confidence level is 95%) and statistical methods (correlation analysis, multiple regression, principal component analysis) were applied. Findings suggest that online trust is multidimensional and influenced by factors related to positive perceptions of institutions, political efficacy of online initiatives, and satisfactory past experience. The implications of these findings and future directions are presented in the context of the e-government research agenda.

PurposeThis study aims to conduct a systematic literature review on the interplay between place branding, smart cities and foreign direct investment (FDI) to identify key theoretical perspectives that support FDI attraction and explore future research directions within this emerging field.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted with Scopus and Web of Science to explore how place branding, smart cities and FDI attraction have been studied together. A final sample of 20 selected articles formed the foundation of this review, revealing three key theoretical perspectives essential for enhancing resource attraction for cities. This review also identified theoretical gaps and provided directions for future research.FindingsAmong the main findings, three theoretical perspectives were identified and discussed as emerging trends in the literature that should be managed to enhance FDI attraction to cities: social impact and stakeholder engagement, environmental impact and infrastructure, and economy, politics and local branding. Based on the identified theoretical gaps, a future research agenda is proposed.Practical implicationsIn practical terms, this study offers valuable insights to city planners, policymakers and marketing professionals regarding strategies that enhance a city’s attractiveness to foreign investors. Combining place branding with smart city initiatives outlines pathways for promoting economic growth and competitiveness, providing concrete steps for cities aiming to increase FDI inflows.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to synthesize current knowledge on the interplay between place branding, smart cities and FDI attraction. It also advances the literature by identifying key theoretical perspectives that enhance FDI attraction to cities. In addition, the systematic review uncovers critical theoretical gaps, shaping a future research agenda and providing valuable guidance for scholars in this field.