Smart City Development

The term Smart City is a frequently used term regarding cities' modern ICT solutions that contribute towards sustainable development and the improvement of the life quality of citizens. However, Smart City incorporates several areas of which can make a city smarter and is considered ambiguous in its very definition. This thesis aims to discover the issues related to the lack of a standard definition of the term Smart City together with other factors that affect the sustainable development of Smart City initiatives. The thesis takes a qualitative approach, where six respondents from six different Swedish cities have been interviewed with a semistructured manner. The empirical results reveal essential enablers for Smart City initiatives, as well as problematic inhibitors. Moreover, the empirical results both confirm and extend the problematic nature of the definition of Smart Cities. Conclusively, collaboration, populism and technology are seen as factors that both enable and inhibit Smart City initiatives attempting to increase sustainable development. Further, the definition predicament of Smart Cities is seen as an inhibitor for Smart City progress, and a common definition is suggested. This opens up for further research within this seemingly contemporary phenomenon