Smart Governance For Sustainable Cities: Findings from a Systematic Literature Review

Figures & data

Table 1. Number and percentage of articles per research field of the source (i.e., journal, conference, book)

Research Field	Number of Articles	Percentage
Public Administration	17	15
Specialized Fields, combining (Information) Technologies with Human Interactions such as Government, Participation, Governance, etc.)	47	41
Urban Studies	10	9
Spatial and Planning Studies	10	9
Computer Sciences/IT	10	9
Management and Economics	8	7
Topic-Related (i.e., Sustainability, Buildings, Water, Energy, etc.)	12	10
Total:	114	100

Table 2. Expected influence of the context on smart governance

Context Factor	Expectation
Policy Domain
Sense of urgency	The urgency of the topic within a policy domain results in greater governmental and citizen commitment towards smart governance
Complexity of issues	Complexity of issues has a negative result on ICT-supported citizen engagement and public–civil collaboration
Trust
Trust within society	Both a high and low level of citizens’ trust in governmental policy solutions may kick-start citizen engagement supported by means of technologies. Trust in the procedural fairness of government is needed in the continuation phase of smart collaboration.
Political and Institutional Environment
Strength of democracy	A stronger democracy results in more ICT-enabled citizen engagement and public-civil collaboration
Political legacy	A recent authoritarian past is negatively related to citizen engagement and public–civil collaboration supported by digital technologies.
Administrative culture	More formal and hierarchical administration styles result in less ICT-enabled citizen engagement. Nationally centralized public administration and government leads to a lower level of technology-enabled collaboration between citizens/communities and local governments.
An innovative and progressive political and business milieu	A political and economic environment with an innovative and progressive atmosphere nourishes both top-down and bottom-up innovation, citizen participation that contributes to smart governance.
Internet Reach and Use
Internet penetration	A higher intensity and developmental level of ICT-facilitated participation is strongly linked to countries with widespread Internet penetration and technological proficiency.
Socio-Spatial Characteristics
Vulnerability to disasters	Vulnerability to disasters and natural forces results—through pressing societal needs—in high levels of governmental and citizens’ commitment to smart governance.
Social cohesion	Social cohesion within a locality positively correlates with citizen engagement in smart city arrangements.

Figure 1. Summary of the research findings with the key variables