The Role of ICT in Smart Cities Governance

This position paper discusses the role of information and communication technologies in the governance of the transition process that urban areas will have to undergo in the coming years. The topic is analyzed from a value-oriented perspective and in the light of almost two decades of technology-driven innovation in both the private and the public sector. All this has been examined in an attempt to take stock of past mistakes and to embrace the opportunities deriving from some important paradigm shifts appearing on the horizon. A conceptual framework is proposed identifying three main contributions: the enablement of new production, distribution and governance processes; the transformation of organizational and institutional arrangements; and the information of individual choices and behaviors. Finally, the combined diffusion of Social Media and computer-based simulation in policy making is argued to lead to significant improvements in the management of smart cities by enabling value-driven, data-intensive and participative governance models, labeled as “extended governance”.