Civic entrepreneurial ecosystems: Smart city emergence in Kansas City

Embedded between the broader fields of social and digital entrepreneurship, the concept of 'smart cities' can be conceptualized as a domain that is currently pre-paradigmatic-that is, one in which multiple yet unaligned models exist, marked by the absence of a single dominant one. Despite such shortcomings, there is a reflective similarity across ecosystems as the various players attempt to converge on a common understanding of the term smart city. The common objective of smart city implementation is to spark economic growth and social development, facilitated by collaborative dialogue and innovations in technology. We integrate theoretical lenses to explore the roles played by ecosystem actors, stakeholders, and socioeconomic and political agents in creating economic value and solving societal problems-particularly highlighting opportunities and challenges to bottom-up innovation from local entrepreneurs.