Smart City and Its Role in Governance
The concept of the smart city is related to many other concepts, such as the information city, the intelligent city, the digital city, the ubiquitous city, and the knowledge city. Though there might be differences in the wordings, these concepts mainly focus on the use of ICTs in urban management (Lee and Lee, 2014). The indicators for managing the smart city should follow the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) principle (Carli et al., 2013). Though the concept of the smart city is still blurry, several researchers have provided different definitions for this term. Roscia et al. (2013) defined a smart city as a city with increased connectivity, automation, and coordination among consumers, providers, and networks, in order to make the most of data transmission and distribution. A smart city is required to develop and manage various innovative services that deliver information related to all aspects of life to its citizenry, through Internet-based and interactive applications (Kuk and Janssen, 2011). Caragliu et al. (2011) articulated that a city is smart "when investments in human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic growth and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory governance."
A smart city facilitates the government in monitoring, understanding, analyzing, and subsequently planning the city in order to improve equity, efficiency, and quality of life (Carli et al., 2013). Caragliu et al. (2011) stated that within the concept of the smart city, e-governance acts as a tool through which the current structures, processes, and practices of government can be improved. Thus, it aims to realize the social inclusion of citizens in public services. Good governance in the context of smart administration also refers to the use of new channels of communication for the citizens, for example e-governance or e-democracy. Smart governance consists of aspects related to political participation, services for citizens, and the functioning of administration (Giffinger et al., 2007). Further, ICTs play a crucial role not only in enhancing the efficiency and transparency of government, but also help in facilitating the democratic practices by improving the collaboration between citizens and government. ICTs enable government institutions and citizens to voluntarily share knowledge, stimulate innovation, and nurture new knowledge (Gil-Garcia, 2013).
