Exploring the determinants of e-participation in smart cities

Abstract

The term Smart City has gained a lot of attention lately. While there is no unique definition of a Smart City, this chapter focuses on governance issues and in particular, on the use of information and communication technologies to facilitate and boost citizens’ engagement in public life and decision-making. Specifically, the aim is to analyze the factors that shape citizens’ e-Participation in Smart Cities. Based on the civic voluntarism model we explore to what extent individual resources, political engagement and access to networks influence citizens’ decision to e-participate. Our findings suggest that e-Participation is mostly explained by citizens’ political interest and external political efficacy, the intensity of their online activity, the number of daily contacts and the degree of involvement in political/civic associations; as to socioeconomic factors, we find that age, educational attainment and labor situation are statistically significant.