The Overton Window in Smart City Governance: The Methodology and Results for Mediterranean Cities

Abstract

Highlights: What are the main findings? This study reveals that Mediterranean island smart city initiatives exhibit uneven strategic integration. The SOAR analysis highlights localized strengths in digital tourism, e-governance, and sustainability, but also identifies a lack of holistic vision—manifested through limited cross-sector coordination, the absence of long-term strategic planning, and inadequate stakeholder alignment. The Overton Window framework identifies significant normative and regulatory constraints that determine which smart technologies gain traction through regulatory approval, receive financial support, and secure broader public legitimacy across different insular contexts. What is the implication of the main finding? Holistic smart city transformation in Mediterranean islands requires alignment between local strategic aspirations and evolving public discourse, ensuring innovation legitimacy and adoption. The ‘Ecopolis’ concept offers a viable planning framework for integrating sustainable infrastructure, citizen participation, and data-driven governance within tourism-dependent island settings. While the model remains conceptual in its full articulation, various elements, such as digital governance platforms and intelligent mobility systems, have already been implemented in selected cases, particularly in Malta and Mallorca, illustrating partial institutionalization of the framework. Mediterranean island cities face unique challenges in implementing smart city initiatives due to fragmented governance structures, seasonal economic pressures, and evolving societal expectations. This study investigates how strategic aspirations and public discourse shape the feasibility of smart city policies in insular contexts. Specifically, it combines SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results) analysis with the Overton Window framework to examine both the strategic capacities and normative acceptability of technological interventions. The Overton Window, a model originally developed in political theory, is applied here to evaluate how public and policy acceptance of smart technologies, ranging from digital governance systems to AI-based mobility, varies across different islands. While this study draws on cross-case comparisons of multiple Mediterranean island contexts, the primary data were collected in Athens, Greece, through surveys and focus groups with citizens and stakeholders. The findings reveal disparities in institutional maturity, stakeholder coordination, and levels of citizen support. This study concludes that successful smart city transformation requires both strategic coherence and alignment with evolving public values. It proposes the ‘Ecopolis’ model as a conceptual planning framework that integrates sustainability, citizen participation, and data-driven governance in tourism-dependent island settings.