Open Governance in the Smart City

Open Governance in the Smart City was developed in the framework of the EU funded Horizon 2020 research project smarticipate. Through eleven cases – 9 European and 2 non-European cities - the report provides an overview of the variety of approaches local governments and communities can take to ICT enabled open governance. In addition to describing the different approaches, the report also discusses risks and challenges, concluding with a number of recommendations.

This report identifies four approaches to ICT enabled open governance at the local level. These are:

1. Data and information
2. Crowdsourcing
3. Co-creation
4. Collective decision making

By analysing the case cities and these four approaches, the report suggests eight recommendations. These do not constitute a check list, but can rather be used as guidelines when applying ICT to governance in a local context. In short, the recommendations are:

• Look for real problems to solve 
• Go where your users are
• Set aside sufficient resources
• Prepare to change 
• Keep your processes open and accessible
• Be transparent about your own role
• Build in future innovation