Untangling Smart Cities: From Utopian Dreams to Innovation Systems for a Technology-Enabled Urban Sustainability - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Luca is a Professor of Urban Innovation at Edinburgh Napier University’s Business School, where he leads both the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Subject Group and the Urban Innovation Policy Lab. This research lab hosts over 25 academics whose expertise connects social sciences with engineering and technology disciplines. Additionally, Luca holds the position of Professor of Urban Innovation at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), where he supports the development of the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities, a €32 million investment through the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program. With 15 years of experience in conducting multidisciplinary research that bridges urban studies, computer science, and innovation management, Luca has been introducing new theoretical and practical advancements in the field of smart city development. His scholarly work has been widely published in prestigious journals, including Organization Studies, Regional Studies, Public Administration Review, Information System Journal, Technovation, Government Information Quarterly, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Cities. Luca has been serving as an academic consultant for several intergovernmental organizations such as the European Commission, the United Nations, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. In this capacity, he authored three major United Nations reports on digital transformation governance in urban areas. Luca's efforts have contributed to generating over €43 million through research and consultancy projects, predominantly supported by European funding schemes. In addition to his research and consulting work, Luca is an active member of the editorial board for the Journal of Urban Technology and serves as Executive Editor for Technological Forecasting and Social Change. He has also been a guest editor for seven Special Issues on smart city development in notable academic journals.

Mark Deakin is Professor of Built Environment in the School of Engineering and Head of the Centre for Smart Cities at Edinburgh Napier University. He’s directed Smart Cities and urban sustainable development research projects for the European Commission and UK, is the author of 12 books on Smart Cities, Sustainable Urban Development, and Urban Technology Management, editor of seven special journal issues on smart and sustainable community management and development, is an expert advisor to the European Investment Bank on smart and sustainable city development, and an Editorial Board Member of six academic journals, including Elsevier’s Journal of Sustainable Cities and Society.

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Untangling Smart Cities: From Theory to Practice

Combines bibliometric and case study research to provide the needed cohesive and pedagogical framework for understanding the overall state of smart city research, theory, and practice.

Mark Deakin

Professor of Built Environment, School of Engineering, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

Head of the Centre for Smart Cities, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

Luca Mora

Research Fellow, Centre for Smart Cities, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

Untangling Smart Cities: From Theory to Practice helps all key stakeholders understand the complex and often conflicting nature of smart city research, offering valuable insights for designing and implementing strategies to improve the smart city decision-making processes. The book drives the reader to a better theoretical and practical comprehension of smart city development, beginning with a thorough and systematic analysis of the research literature published to date. The book provides an in-depth understanding of the entire smart city knowledge domain, revealing a deeply rooted division in its cognitive-epistemological structure as identified by bibliometric insights.

Untangling Smart Cities fills the knowledge gap between theory and practice using case study research, with empirical evidence drawn from cities considered leaders in innovative smart city practices. An invaluable contribution to the growing scientific literature, Untangling Smart Cities provides an accurate and deep understanding of the strategic principles driving smart city development.

• Provides a systematic literature analysis on the state-of-the-art smart city research using bibliometrics combined with practical application to guide smart systems implementation
• Generates a strong connection between theory and practice by providing the scientific knowledge necessary to approach the complex nature of smart cities, sourced from the analysis of actual best practices
• Documents five main development pathways for smart city development, serving the needs of city managers and policy makers with concrete advice and guidance

About the Authors

Mark Deakin has directed smart city and urban sustainable development research projects for the European Commission and UK, is the author of 12 books in the field, and an Editorial Board member of six academic journals, including Elsevier’s Journal of Sustainable Cities and Society.

Luca Mora is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Smart Cities at Edinburgh Napier University. He is the Principal Investigator for the Roadmap for European Smart City research project.

Related Elsevier Titles

• Xhafa et al, Smart Sensors Networks: Communication Technologies and Intelligent Applications, June 2017, 9780128098592
• Liu et al, Big Data and Smart Service Systems, January 2017, 9780128120132