Sustainable and Smart Cities Governance, Economy and Society

Smart cities represent a paradigm of urban development that leverages advanced technologies to enhance various aspects of urban life. While the specific definitions and implementations may vary, the overarching goal of smart cities is to create more efficient, sustainable, and livable urban environments. This goal is admirable, yet reaching it involves the integration and management of the various components of a smart city, which can include competing priorities of different stakeholders, citizens, and industry groups, matched with limited resources. As such, effective governance becomes a necessary aspect of managing a smart city.

Broad governance issues have been well reviewed in the literature (e.g. Babić et al., 2022; Fauzi et al., 2020; Jiang et al., 2020a; Meijer & Bolívar, 2015; Ngo & Le, 2021; Pereira et al., 2018), but these have typically focused on macro issues of city governance. These issues are varied and diverse, and they are critical to the efficient and effective governance of a smart city. However, less covered in the literature
are the various meso- and micro-level facets that manifest at a lower level of governance. These facets bring the governance components down to the application and implementation level. It is at this level of application where governance impacts the regular citizen or business in a city that this chapter looks at. The purpose is to highlight the facets that need to be considered when governance is implemented.

Globally, urban growth has increased over the past several decades and is expected to continue, with 68% of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050 (United Nations Population Division, 2019). Smart cities represent a significant trend in urban development due to their ability to leverage advanced technologies, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT), to enhance urban living conditions. These cities focus on improving the quality of life for residents by optimizing resource management, reducing administrative costs, and increasing infrastructure efficiency (Gunawan et al., 2022). The integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) allows for better urban governance and sustainable development, addressing challenges such as traffic congestion, pollution, and energy consumption (Elena, 2024).

source:

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/98401