The democratic anchorage of governance networks in smart cities: an empirical assessment

ABSTRACT

The paper addresses the problem of democratic legitimacy of smart cities as a system of governance networks. Using data collected during a 2-year research project, such as the qualitative analysis of reports and documents and semi-structured interviews with key informants, the paper elaborates an Index of Democratic Smart Governance and applies it to four European smart cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Turin, and Vienna. Results show that smart cities are anchored in principles of democratic representation, but the link between political institutions and the general public is not entirely developed due to the lack of mechanisms truly fostering citizens’ participation and voicing.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart city
• smart governance
• democratic legitimacy
• citizen participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Based on an extensive literature review, Meijer and Rodriguez Bolívar (2015) identified four conceptualizations of smart city governance: a) as a more effective government of a smart city, b) as a more informed process of decision-making (smart decision-making), c) as the process of restructuring of local administrative structures to cope with new policy challenges (smart administration), and d) as the process of restructuring of internal organization and external relationships to foster collaboration with the various actors of the territory (smart urban collaboration). In this article, we will focus on the last meaning of smart governance.

2. This article presents part of the findings of a research project on smart city governance carried out by the authors between 2014 and 2016. Cities were selected on the base of the A.T. Kearney Global Cities Index, the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index, the Innovation Cities Index and the European Digital Cities Index. For Italy, we also used the I-City Rate Index and Ernst and Young Smart City Index. Empirical analysis was based on extensive fieldwork and adopted a qualitative approach combining document analysis with open interviews with key informants.

3. In defining the sample of interviews, we followed the principle of saturation outlined by Glaser and Strauss (1967).

4. The Barcelona Institute of Technology was a foundation created and managed by the Municipality which promoted partnerships between government, industries, start-ups, incubators, and the research community for the development of innovative urban projects.

5. Barcelona Activa is the office for the economic development of the city.

6. i2Cat Foundation is the Catalan research centre for R&D activities on advanced Internet architecture, application and services.

7. See https://smartcity.wien.gv.at/site/en/projects/ for more details.

8. See https://www.amsterdameconomicboard.com/app/uploads/2012/11/algemene-folder-board-2012-EN.pdf accessed on November 12 2018.

9. Personal interview, 19/01/2016.

10. See https://smartcity.wien.gv.at/site/en/the-initiative/framework-strategy/.

11. For instance, in 2012, two members of the City Council from the opposition questioned the financial sustainability of the smart city project and publicly asked the Executive Councillor to give count for this problem.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Padua under grant [CPDA 135388].

Notes on contributors

Giorgia Nesti

Giorgia Nesti is Assistant Professor of Local Systems in the EU at the University of Padova, and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at the University Ca’ Foscari, Venice. Her research interests focus on public innovation, new technologies, smart cites and local governance.

Paolo Roberto Graziano

Paolo Roberto Graziano is Professor of Political Science and of Public Management and Multi-level Governance at the University of Padua, Research Associate at the European Social Observatory, Brussels and Honorary Professor at the Glasgow School for Business and Society – Glasgow Caledonian University. His work on Europeanization, comparative welfare state policies, populism and political consumerism has appeared in several international peer reviewed journals.