ABSTRACT
The convergence of technology and the city is commonly referred to as the smart city. It is seen as a possible remedy for the challenges that urbanisation creates in the age of global climate change, and as an enabler of a sustainable and liveable urban future. A review of the abundant but fragmented literature on smart city theories and practices, nevertheless, reveals that there has been a limited effort to capture a comprehensive understanding on how the complex and multidimensional nature of the drivers of smart cities are linked to desired outcomes. This chapter aims to develop a clear understanding on this new city model by identifying and linking the key drivers to desired outcomes, and then intertwining them in a multidimensional framework. The methodological approach of this research includes a systematic review of the literature on smart cities, focusing on those aimed at conceptual development and providing an empirical evidence base. The review identifies that the literature reveals three types of drivers of smart cities—community, technology, policy—which are linked to six desired outcomes—productivity, sustainability, accessibility, wellbeing, liveability, and governance. These drivers and outcomes together assemble a smart city framework, where each of them represents a distinctive dimension of the smart city notion.
