Smart City, Governance and new models of participation

Contemporary society is characterised by circumstances and situations that give rise to profound changes in the different areas of life, whether in the economic sphere or in the political and social sphere. These are transformations that to some extent have an impact on time, on space, on social relationships, and on ways of communicating. Many of these changes manifest themselves in cities. So, in an increasingly urbanized world, the city of the future will inevitably point to the management of the resources according to sustainability criteria and to the creation of an attractive economic and social context for citizens, businesses and governments. Therefore, cities will have to develop more intelligent strategies and management models. Debates about the future of urban development, particularly in many Western countries, have been increasingly influenced by discussions of “smart cities” (Hollands, 2008; Komninos, 2011; Lindner, 2013; Nam and Pardo, 2011). The concept of smart city in particular, highlights the importance of Information and Communication Technologies for enhancing the competitive profile of a city (Caragliu, Del Bo and Nijkamp, 2011). The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has changed the way political life is organised and the way city government is understood and carried out. These technologies have come to be seen as tools for improvement and for reducing the distance between the actors involved in decision-making processes, as well as tools for improvement of the urban quality of life in general.This study focuses on the application of new information technologies in the sphere of urban governance processes, in order to investigate if and how the technologies contribute to the construction of a smart city, with particular reference to the sphere of relations between citizens and the urban government.