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Smart cities in Europe

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Author Info

  • Caragliu, A.

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculteit der Economische Wetenschappen en Econometrie (Free University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics Sciences, Business Administration and Economitrics)

  • Del Bo, C.
  • Nijkamp, P.

Abstract

Urban performance currently depends not only on the city’s endowment of hard infrastructure (‘physical capital’), but also, and increasingly so, on the availability and quality of knowledge communication and social infrastructure (‘human and social capital’). The latter form of capital is decisive for urban competitiveness. Against this background, the concept of the ‘smart city’ has recently been introduced as a strategic device to encompass modern urban production factors in a common framework and, in particular, to highlight the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the last 20 years for enhancing the competitive profile of a city. The present paper aims to shed light on the often elusive definition of the concept of the ‘smart city’. We provide a focussed and operational definition of this construct and present consistent evidence on the geography of smart cities in the EU27. Our statistical and graphical analyses exploit in depth, for the first time to our knowledge, the most recent version of the Urban Audit data set in order to analyse the factors determining the performance of smart cities. We find that the presence of a creative class, the quality of and dedicated attention to the urban environment, the level of education, multimodal accessibility, and the use of ICTs for public administration are all positively correlated with urban wealth. This result prompts the formulation of a new strategic agenda for smart cities in Europe, in order to achieve sustainable urban development and a better urban landscape.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics in its series Serie Research Memoranda with number 0048.

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Date of creation: 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:dgr:vuarem:2009-48

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Web page: http://www.feweb.vu.nl

Related research

Keywords: smart city; urban development; human capital; transport infrastructure; ICTs;

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References

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  1. Jesse M. Shapiro, 2005. "Smart Cities: Quality of Life, Productivity, and the Growth Effects of Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 11615, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Berry, Christopher R. & Glaeser, Edward L., 2005. "Divergence of Human Capital Levels across Cities," Working Paper Series rwp05-057, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
  3. Stephen J. Redding & Daniel M. Sturm, 2008. "The Costs of Remoteness: Evidence from German Division and Reunification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1766-97, December.
  4. Steven Poelhekke, 2006. "Do Amenities and Diversity Encourage City Growth? A Link Through Skilled Labor," Economics Working Papers ECO2006/10, European University Institute.
  5. Chiara DEL BO & Massimo FLORIO, 2008. "Infrastructure and growth in the European Union: an empirical analysis at the regional level in a spatial framework," Departmental Working Papers 2008-37, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
  6. Mankiw, N Gregory & Romer, David & Weil, David N, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(2), pages 407-37, May.
  7. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The Divergence of Human Capital Levels across Cities," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2091, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  8. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The Divergence of Human Capital Levels Across Cities," NBER Working Papers 11617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  9. Andrea Caragliu & Peter Nijkamp, 2008. "The Impact of Regional Absorptive Capacity on Spatial Knowledge Spillovers," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-119/3, Tinbergen Institute.
  10. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Gromicho, J.A.S. & Hoorn, J.J. van & Timmer, G.T. & Saldanha-da-Gama, F., 2009. "Exponentially better than brute force: solving the jobshop scheduling problem optimally by dynamic programming," Serie Research Memoranda 0056, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.

Lists

This item is featured on the following reading lists or Wikipedia pages:
  1. Ville intelligente in Wikipedia (French)
  2. Smart city in Wikipedia (English)
  3. Smart city in Wikipedia (Catalan)

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