Krassimira Paskaleva

The smart city: A nexus for open innovation?

This article critically reviews current European trends on smart cities in the context of open innovation. It draws from analyses of key European Union (EU) programmes, four international projects and related activities. These initiatives are framed by the EUs strategic policies on Competitiveness and Innovation, Smart Cities, the Future Internet and Living Labs with the aims to foster smarter, sustainable and inclusive cities. The article probes similarities and differences in the programmes and projects examined and their challenges towards EU strategies, including the i2020 agenda. The analysis shows that a new approach to open innovation is emerging, which links technologies with people, urban territory and other cities and that this approach is likely to be increasingly influential over the next period of time. It is suggested that this approach of using open innovation for sharing visions, knowledge, skills, experience and strategies for designing the delivery of services, goods and policies in cities is effective, efficient and sustainable. However, consistent frameworks, principles and strategic agendas are necessary to optimally bind these elements together.

Stakeholder engagement in the smart city : making living labs work

This chapter discusses attempts to involve stakeholders in the co-production of Future Internet (FI) services in a smart city living lab. We outline the experience of five European cities using an open innovation approach to citizens’ engagement in the co-production of smart city services. Recent practice and emergent trends in five urban ecosystems, called ‘Arenas’, are analysed by drawing on the results of detailed case study research. These results are set against ‘good practice’ expectations about how co-production should occur as set out by the European Network of Living Labs as well as in open innovation strategic policies. Based on the case studies, a set of propositions are explored about what needs to be done to build the stakeholder innovation networks required to shape future smart cities. The study suggests that if smart cities are to deliver a better quality of life in more attractive urban areas, new ways of engaging with the stakeholders are necessary to provide them with not just better access and inclusion but also to empower them to act as a catalyst in transforming the dynamics of city services as well. In light of the demands of delivering the FI, cities also need to redefine what they mean when they claim to be a ‘smart’ city and to reconfigure what they take to be the underlying role of stakeholder engagement in service co-production.

Forming post-socialist urban identities through small-scale heritage-based regeneration: a role for intangibles?

Abstract While the issue of socialist heritage in Central and Eastern Europe has been extensively researched by scholars, this paper addresses an existing gap in theory and practice ‒ how safeguarding socialist cultural heritage (tangible and intangible) can be used in post-socialist towns that have little emblematic resources available today to pursue urban progress and prosperity. The paper focuses on the city of Velenje in Slovenia and its collectivist means of original production. Attention is drawn to both the importance of this aspect of its intangible cultural heritage, and the problematic nature of appealing to it, to underpin citizens’ engagement in a small-scale urban regeneration project. The paper offers insights about how using cultural heritage can be called upon to motivate citizens to participate in urban development and reform their urban identity, drawing on the recent past and living memory, through volunteered labour.

Soft factors in integrating innovation in advanced e-services

Along with economic development and competitiveness, contemporary urban destinations are increasingly concerned with improving their services via information and communication technologies (ICT). The latter can be a powerful vehicle for destination promotion, combining positive contributions to the tourism, cultural heritage, visitors’ and wider community interests. Based on the results of the ISAAC European project, this paper shows how cultural tourism destinations can develop advanced e-services that improve access and use of their local heritage by adopting innovation practices in integration. It is argued that if these new e-services have to convey diverse, distributed and multi-media information on cultural destinations in order to enrich the user experience and satisfaction then there is a need for wide-ranging innovations – not just technical but also organisational, process and policy – addressing governance and sustainable development issues. The discussion is based on theoretical analysis, previous research conducted by the authors, and three case study examples from Europe – Amsterdam, Leipzig, and Genoa, focusing specifically on the soft factors of innovation and the practical implications of the research reported.

Unlocking Lifelong Learning Through E-Heritage: Using Mobile Technologies in Genoa

Lifelong learning is often associated with the sociology and the economics of education. However, its broader and more holistic context, which includes learning through involvement in cultural activities, tourism, leisure, and recreation, is much less known. The relationship of this term to the rapidly changing world of Information and Communication Technologies and to various conceptions of interaction is also worthy of further investigation. This article seeks to shed light on that theme by presenting a novel IT platform involving mobile technologies that can enhance access and consumption of cultural heritage community resources. Drawing on material from the ISAAC European project, the article demonstrates how lifelong m-learning can be supported by an integrated e-destination platform that enables the user to build content and engage with that through a variety of applications over time. It concludes with a demonstrator system for the city of Genoa, Italy, to highlight the pathways to change.

Tourism and European capitals of culture: the role of destination competitiveness governance

Cultural tourism – let alone its urban dimensions – is said to require integrated, whole system thinking to bring about the sustainable and competitive destination. This paper explores how these contending forces are being played out in tourist cities participating in the European Capital of Culture Programme (ECOC). Specifically, the potential of ECOC as a cultural tourism response strategy is examined through literature review and case studies. Destination competitiveness governance is proposed as a framework for evaluation. Innovation of policy in the discourses of the city and cultural tourism is discussed as a co-creation of activity and process that stems from the stakeholder interaction.

Co-producing Smart City Services: Does One Size Fit All?

Studies have shown the potential of co-producing public services with the stakeholders for more efficient and sustainable smart city services. However, evidence-based records of the success of such initiatives are limited and there is a strong deficit of analysis of what makes co-production efficient. This study addresses these limitations by exploring the methods, tools and techniques for managing the process effectively, and the skills required to do so, drawing on both literature and empirical data. A case study method and survey is employed to uncover specific factors and challenges operating among public service project managers in European smart cities—based on experience gained from Peripheria, a multidisciplinary project focused on the co-production of Future Internet-enabled services. Six pilot cases are explored to understand how each of them set about engaging their stakeholders in service co-production in order to reach the desired services and impacts for their smart city. A clear pattern emerged from the results of the comparative analysis, showing that, for the most part, there is no one-size-fits-all that can be applied to the cities’ attempts to engage their stakeholders in efficient service co-production. The evidence collected also suggests that public service managers need not only the tools and techniques to encourage collaboration between the multiplicity of stakeholders involved in co-production but also the skills and capacity for managing the governance of co-production. It is these twin messages about no ‘one-size-fits-all’ and the importance of context-specific governance issues about who takes part in decision-making—that need to be carried forward from this study.

Data Governance in the Sustainable Smart City

The wisdom of ‘smart’ development increasingly shapes urban sustainability in Europe and beyond. Yet, the ‘smart city’ paradigm has been critiqued for favouring technological solutions and business interests over social inclusion and urban innovation. Despite the rhetoric of ‘citizen-centred approaches’ and ‘user-generated data’, the level of stakeholder engagement and public empowerment is still in question. It is unclear how smart city initiatives are developing common visions according to the principles of sustainable urban development. This paper examines how data governance in particular is framed in the new smart city agenda that is focused on sustainability. The challenges and opportunities of data governance in sustainability-driven smart city initiatives are articulated within a conceptual Framework on Sustainable Smart City Data Governance. Drawing on three cases from European countries and a stakeholder survey, the paper shows how governance of data can underpin urban smart and sustainable development solutions. The paper presents insights and lessons from this multi-case study, and discusses risks, challenges, and future research.