Analysis and comparison of smart city initiatives

Abstract

Complexity in cities is expected to become even higher in the short term, which implies the need to face new challenges. The Smart City (SC) model and its associate initiatives have become very popular for undertaking them but it is not often very clear what it really means. Starting with a previous classification of the initiatives developed under the SC model into two big categories, according to their approach to citizens, this paper aims to make a critical analysis of this model of city, and to propose the development of new initiatives for it based on Citizen-Centered Design methodologies. Living Labs, both as methodology and as organization, appear in this context as an interesting choice for developing initiatives with real citizen involvement along the entire design process, which it is expected to arise in later stages of research.