An analysis of the development and governance of sustainable smart cities: the case of Limerick City, Ireland

Smart cities have emerged as a potential solution to the growing problems of urbanisation and climate change. However, the development of smart cities is a relatively recent phenomenon that poses a host of unanswered questions, especially in relation to smart city development and the governance of smart city projects.

Although governance is an important dimension of smart city development, the question of smart city governance is under-investigated in the smart city literature. The first objective of this thesis is to address this gap by developing the concept of smart city governance and its link to collaborative governance. It develops a Smart City Collaborative Governance Framework (SCCGF) by adapting Emerson et al.’s (2012) seminal collaborative governance framework.

The second objective of the thesis is to apply the SCCGF to examine the pre-conditions and drivers that motivated LCCC to initiate collaborative arrangements for a smart city project -+CityxChange. The framework is also used to examine the dynamics of collaborative governance in the +CityxChange project and to identify the factors associated with successful or unsuccessful collaborative governance of the +CityxChange project.

The SCCGF is developed in two phases. The first phase involves adapting Emerson et al.’s (2012) framework by adding pre-conditions and drivers that are specific to the smart city context and drawn from the extant smart city literature. The second phase involves the application of the initially adapted framework to analyse the workings of collaborative governance in the +CityxChange project. The second phase involves the identification of case?specific pre-conditions and drivers that motivated LCCC to develop a collaborative governance arrangement for the +CityxChange project. This stage also examines the dynamics of collaborative governance in the +CityxChange project and identifies the factors for successful collaborative governance of the project.

This research employs qualitative methods to fulfil the main research objectives. To understand the Limerick smart city context, data is gathered from publicly available documents and semi?structured interviews with public and private stakeholders involved in Limerick’s smart city development. For the first objective (development of the SCCGF), an extensive review of the extant literature covering smart cities, smart city governance and collaborative governance is conducted. Lastly, for the second objective (using the SCCGF to examine collaborative dynamics), data is gathered from publicly available documents, a series of participant observations, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with public and private stakeholders involved in the +CityxChange project. The data is analysed using thematic analysis, coding data according to key themes and subcategories.

It is revealed that Limerick adopted an innovative and articulated top-down approach to developing itself as a smart city. The formation of the Digital Services Department (DSD) within LCCC, the appointment of a Digital officer to oversee smart city operations, and the formation of the first digital strategy were all important steps in this development. LCCC led and fostered a culture of collaboration with public, private and research institute stakeholders, thereby promoting Triple Helix collaborations. The research also revealed that stakeholders share a well-articulated vision of Limerick as a smart city where technology and data enable the improvement of citizens’ quality of life. Despite considerable progress, some important challenges remain, including the need to address digital exclusion by fully integrating citizens into the smart city ecosystem.

The results identify ten pre-conditions and five drivers of the SCCGF that motivated LCCC to initiate collaborative governance for the +CityxChange project. Some of the pre-conditions and drivers tie back to collaborative governance literature, while others are specific to the smart city initiative under consideration. The analysis of the collaborative dynamics of the SCCGF identifies the components and elements necessary for the success of collaborative governance in the +CityxChange project. The results show that a history of collaboration, detailed procedural and institutional arrangements, stakeholder diversity, prior resource availability, and leadership are the essential elements for successful collaborative governance of the +CityxChange project.

Overall, this thesis makes contributions to the literature on smart cities by: (a) conducting a detailed case study of the development of a smart city in a medium-sized, brownfield city; (b) developing a model of smart city governance which is utilised to explore the governance of Limerick smart city and (c) providing lessons for policymakers in the field of smart city development.