Knowledge-Based Approach to Sustainable City Management: An Example of European Smart Cities

This study aims to examine the relationships between the use of knowledge-based approach in key areas of sustainable city management (urban planning, mobility and transportation management, and environment protection) and city’s position in the global smart cities ranking (the IESE Cities in Motion Index). A case study methodology is adopted to examine and compare the possibilities of implementing knowledge-based approach in sustainable city management, in order to gain a better understanding of this new urban phenomenon. Data and information about knowledge-based smart city initiatives have been collected from secondary sources. The presented case studies were explored through desk research using online resources, such as the web pages of smart city initiatives. Smart Cities were selected based on their rankings in the IESE Cities in Motion Index. In addition, multiple regressions were used to identify the relationship between the independent variables (environment protection, mobility and transportation management, urban planning) and dependent variable-value of city’s ranking in the IESE Cities in Motion Index . The results illustrate that the majority of cities use smart-city solutions in all categories to improve city management, efficiency and achieve sustainability goals. All research hypotheses have been accepted, therefore knowledge-based smart city solutions implemented in all key areas of sustainable city management (urban planning, mobility and transportation management, and environment protection) positively influence performance of achieving sustainability goals. The selection of a limited number of case studies is a limitation of this research. It is therefore important to explore the potential of knowledge-based approach in urban development and city management in more detail by considering more cases. Future research should explore the impacts of other variables related to sustainability, which can determinate performance of sustainable city management. A future study should try to validate the result by using a wider sample. The research combines quantitative and quantitative analysis in order to identify the determinants of effective achievement of sustainable development goals in city management. This study provides a form of grounding for further discussion to debate over of the operational functioning, planning, design, development, and governance of smart sustainable cities in the future.