Translating sustainable and smart city strategies into performance measurement systems

A public management perspective on smart cities: ‘Urban auditing’ for management, governance and accountability

“…Despite the consistent number of studies that dealt with the sustainability of cities in the realm of urban and metropolitan policy and planning (e.g. Pincetl 2007; Ratchford and Parker 2011; Harman and Falk 2016), a clearer and more 'smart' focussed debate has emerged only recently, when Brorström et al (2018) portrayed how sustainable and smart strategies may be deployed in cities, while simultaneously showing the patterns of reciprocal interaction and influence between strategies and performance measurement systems. Using the Foucauldian 'governmentality' principle and tenets, and drawing upon multiple interviews with key actors, this critical accounting study provides a comprehensive portrayal of the case of Gothenburg in Sweden, elucidating collaboration across organizational boundaries and the great deal of attention that is concurrently devoted either to financial goals or to social and human aspects.…”

“…Considering the extreme dearth of research in accounting journals that was described above, there is still much to learn about the roles played by accounting practices, accountability mechanisms and auditing technologies. Although some attention has been devoted to performance management and operations at this early stage, using either an instrumental (Herscovici 2018) or critical perspective (Brorström et al 2018;Argento et al 2019), there is still much to say about accounting and the economics of space and urban 'smartness'. In a related manner, mystery surrounds the intersections of accounting, technical innovation and information systems of entire 'smart' regions.…”

The democratic anchorage of governance networks in smart cities: an empirical assessment

“…Governance refers to 'all those interactive arrangements in which public as well as private actors participate aimed at solving societal problems, or creating societal opportunities, and attending to the institutions within which these governing activities take place' (Kooiman 1999, 70). Literature on smart cities generally agrees in stating that processes of interaction and collaboration among stakeholders are a peculiar characteristic of their (Coe, Paquet and Roy 2001;Batagan 2011;Pardo 2011a, 2011b;Schaffers et al 2011;Caragliu Del Bo, and Nijkamp 2012;Chourabi et al 2012;Zygiaris 2012;Angelidou 2014Angelidou , 2015Angelidou , 2016Albino, Berardi, and Dangelico 2015;Meijer and Rodriguez Bolivar, 2015;Rodriguez Bolivar and Meijer 2016;Gil-Garcia, Pardo, and Nam 2016;Meijer, Gil-Garcia, and Rodriguez Bolivar 2016;van Waart, Mulder, and de Bont 2016;Brorström et al 2018). Recent analyses of governance processes in some smart cities also empirically confirmed the relevance of collaborative relationships among local stakeholders in defining and implementing a smart strategy (Nesti 2017;2018b).…”

A tale of three cities: the concept of smart sustainable cities for the Arctic

“…A considerable amount of research already exists on what the dimensions of a smart city ought to be, and how their performance can be quantitatively measured (Anthopoulos, 2017;Brorström, Argento, Grossi, Thomasson, & Almqvist, 2018;Fernandez-Anez, Fernández-Güell, & Giffinger, 2018;Garau & Pavan, 2018;Grossi & Pianezzi, 2017;Huovila, Bosch, & Airaksinen, 2019;Lazaroiu & Roscia, 2012;Lombardi, Giordano, Farouh, & Yousef, 2012;Mora, Bolici, & Deakin, 2017). There is reason to believe that due to factors such as relatively low populations, peripheral development, remote locations, and harsh climate conditions, these existing frameworks may not be entirely suitable to evaluate the performance or statues of smart cities in the Arctic.…”