The relevance of data and governance in the context of strategy-based value creation of smart cities - A comparitive study of Hungarian cities within the framework of a synthesizing ecosystem model

Abstract

The Smart City paradigm focuses on people, while technology serves as means for cities to become more liveable, innovative, effective. In this view technology is about to support cities in their competition to satisfy citizens’ needs. The digital transformation of cities must be managed by detailed strategies along a set of priorities implemented accurately concentrating all the eUorts towards a set of solutions that give answers to the digital challenges of cities. The first part of the paper discusses the most important elements of the digital transformation of smart cities, including the definition of the concept of smart city transition and factors that make transformation itself a real complex challenge. We underline and evaluate the role of data and also identify the governance/e-governance as a possible and effective public management methodology for smart city value creation. These two dynamic elements in abstraction operate the smart city as a system and provide connections among the countless conceptional items of future cities. Based on this idea a new synthesizing smart city model is introduced in the second part of the study, designed through iteration and semantic analysis. This model combines ideas of various theoretical models that are mainly based on city governing domains (i.e. city services, asset management, waste management, taxation services) and IT focused pragmatic models. Smart City is projected by us as a kind of platform that continuously maintains the flow of information and tasks delegated across the directorates of the city. The model integrates internal-, external actors, structural and conceptual elements, operative plenums and technologic solutions developed for the smart city. The model also shows that strategic level processes can take place next to IT solutions – symbolizing Smart City as a system operable. Smart City is not segmented strictly to domains any more. Interoperability is powered by the platform. The platform is powered by data and governance.

The model itself consists of elements that are represented in international reviews or the strategic level smart city and spatial development documents we have investigated during the original research of ours. Our research was based on semantic analysis: words and expressions were found to represent smart city ideas no matter what dimension of the smart city was spotted. Five strategic documents of Rve large cities in Hungary were analysed, primarily seeking for the selected words and expressions, secondly identifying the model elements themselves and their representation. Eight items (sets) were defined as a vivid combination of the reviewed studies and our own Rndings assembled: Governance, Data, Technologies, Stakeholders, Aims and attributes of Smart City, Way of Life – People – Welfare, City domains and projects, Regionalisation.

The other question we aimed to answer through our analysis of strategic documents was whether the smart city concept appears as in international studies. We found that all the items of international theories that are shown in a unique way in our model are represented although at a different level of extent. This means that the analysed smart city strategies reflect mainstream smart city policies while also differ from one another conveying local specificities.