Driving elements to make cities smarter: Evidences from European projects

Industrial cities still maintain structures for a mass production and consumption dynamics, which result in several issues such as unemployment, homeless, traffic jams, pollution, diseases, violence and so on. This urban industrial configuration no longer fits with the value creation principles of the new techno-economic paradigm. In order to overcome this crisis, cities of the future must find suitable trajectories and become smart cities. However, there is no consensus about what really makes a city smarter. What are the elements that a smart city must have in order to offer high quality of life and a prosperous environment for creativity and innovation? This paper aims at disclosing the driving elements that make a city smarter, based on the literature, interviews with experts, and insights from smart cities projects (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, Vienna). Results show that a smart city is an urban innovation ecosystem where knowledge easily flows from a deliberated interaction and collaboration among different stakeholders to create wealth, supported by a flexible institutional structure, an integrated-participative governance model, a digital-green infrastructure and a functional urban design with diversified amenities and facilities. We conclude that cities, to become smarter, should upgrade the elements related to their different dimensions, which are the techno-economic activity, the environ-urban configuration and the socio-institutional structures in an integrated manner, guided by an integrated and comprehensive governance model.