Assessing Emerging ICT-Enabled Governance Models in European Cities: Results from a Mapping Survey

The evidence collected shows that new ICT-enabled governance models are emerging, and it allowed to identify the main dimensions of change, drivers, barriers, enablers and characteristics, as well as opportunities, risks and challenges associated with them.

Abstract

The paper presents the preliminary results of an exploratory survey\nconducted by the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective\nTechnological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission. The main goal of\nthe research is to deepen the understanding of the interplay between ICTs and\ngovernance processes at city level in the EU by looking at what new ICTenabled\ngovernance models are emerging in European cities and what are their\nkey socio-economic implications. In this preliminary phase efforts have been\ndirected towards addressing the following research question: what key city\ngovernance policy areas ICTs impact most and what governance changes are\ndriven by ICTs? This questions have been investigated through a questionnaire\nbased online survey. The evidence collected provided a comprehensive\nmapping of the use of ICTs in European cities as well as the views of policy\nmakers, city government officials, practitioners and researchers, on the way\nICTs are influencing governance processes. The evidence collected shows that\nnew ICT-enabled governance models are emerging, and it allowed to identify\nthe main dimensions of change, drivers, barriers, enablers and characteristics, as\nwell as opportunities, risks and challenges associated with them.