Smart city policies: A spatial approach

• Discusses the efforts world-wide to create ‘smart cities’ using information technologies.
• Reviews the spatial factors which differentiate smart city development policies on the basis of four strategic choices.
• Presents the advantages and disadvantages of each strategic choice.
• Illustrates smart city strategy case studies from all over the world.

This paper reviews the factors which differentiate policies for the development of smart cities, in an effort to provide a clear view of the strategic choices that come forth when mapping out such a strategy. The paper commences with a review and categorization of four strategic choices with a spatial reference, on the basis of the recent smart city literature and experience. The advantages and disadvantages of each strategic choice are presented. In the second part of the paper, the previous choices are illustrated through smart city strategy cases from all over the world. The third part of the paper includes recommendations for the development of smart cities based on the combined conclusions of the previous parts. The paper closes with a discussion of the insights that were provided and recommendations for future research areas.