IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i13p7140-d582059.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Three Decades of Research on Smart Cities: Mapping Knowledge Structure and Trends

Author

Listed:
  • Ayyoob Sharifi

    (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences & Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS), Hiroshima University, Hiroshima 739-8511, Japan)

  • Zaheer Allam

    (Chaire Entrepreneuriat Territoire Innovation (ETI), Groupe de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations (GREGOR), IAE Paris—Sorbonne Business School, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 75013 Paris, France)

  • Bakhtiar Feizizadeh

    (Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, University of Tabriz, Tabriz 51368, Iran)

  • Hessam Ghamari

    (Interior Design Program, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Health and Human Development, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA 91330, USA)

Abstract

The concept of smart cities has gained significant momentum in science and policy circles over the past decade. This study aims to provide an overview of the structure and trends in the literature on smart cities. Bibliometric analysis and science mapping techniques using VOSviewer and CiteSpace are used to identify the thematic focus of over 5000 articles indexed in the Web of Science since 1991. In addition to providing insights into the thematic evolution of the field, the three-decade study period is divided into two sub-periods (1991–2015 and 2016–2021). While splitting the dataset into more sub-periods would have been desirable, we decided to only examine two sub-periods as only very few papers have been published until 2010. The annual number of publications has progressively increased since then, with a surge in the annual number of publications observable from 2015 onwards. The thematic analysis showed that the intellectual base of the field has been very limited during the first period, but has expanded significantly since 2015. Over time, some thematic evolutions, such as further attention to linkages to climate change and resilience, and more emphasis on security and privacy issues, have been made. The thematic analysis shows that existing research on smart cities is dominated by either conceptual issues or underlying technical aspects. It is, therefore, essential to do more research on the implementation of smart cities and actual and/or potential contributions of smart cities to solving societal issues. In addition to elaborating on thematic focus, the study also highlights major authors, journals, references, countries, and institutions that have contributed to the development of the smart cities literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayyoob Sharifi & Zaheer Allam & Bakhtiar Feizizadeh & Hessam Ghamari, 2021. "Three Decades of Research on Smart Cities: Mapping Knowledge Structure and Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7140-:d:582059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7140/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7140/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Igor Calzada, 2018. "(Smart) Citizens from Data Providers to Decision-Makers? The Case Study of Barcelona," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-25, September.
    2. Jesse M. Shapiro, 2006. "Smart Cities: Quality of Life, Productivity, and the Growth Effects of Human Capital," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 324-335, May.
    3. Awasthi, Abhishek & Venkitusamy, Karthikeyan & Padmanaban, Sanjeevikumar & Selvamuthukumaran, Rajasekar & Blaabjerg, Frede & Singh, Asheesh K., 2017. "Optimal planning of electric vehicle charging station at the distribution system using hybrid optimization algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 70-78.
    4. Simon Joss & Frans Sengers & Daan Schraven & Federico Caprotti & Youri Dayot, 2019. "The Smart City as Global Discourse: Storylines and Critical Junctures across 27 Cities," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 3-34, January.
    5. Muqaddas Naz & Fahad A. Al-zahrani & Rabiya Khalid & Nadeem Javaid & Ali Mustafa Qamar & Muhammad Khalil Afzal & Muhammad Shafiq, 2019. "A Secure Data Sharing Platform Using Blockchain and Interplanetary File System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-24, December.
    6. Bertolini, Marina & Buso, Marco & Greco, Luciano, 2020. "Competition in smart distribution grids," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    7. Liang-xing Su & Peng-hui Lyu & Zheng Yang & Shuai Ding & Kai-le Zhou, 2015. "Scientometric cognitive and evaluation on smart city related construction and building journals data," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(1), pages 449-470, October.
    8. Saber Talari & Miadreza Shafie-khah & Pierluigi Siano & Vincenzo Loia & Aurelio Tommasetti & João P. S. Catalão, 2017. "A Review of Smart Cities Based on the Internet of Things Concept," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-23, March.
    9. Robert G. Hollands, 2008. "Will the real smart city please stand up?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 303-320, December.
    10. François Mancebo, 2020. "Smart city strategies: time to involve people. Comparing Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris," Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 133-152, April.
    11. Si Ying Tan & Araz Taeihagh, 2020. "Smart City Governance in Developing Countries: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-29, January.
    12. Ruben Sánchez-Corcuera & Adrián Nuñez-Marcos & Jesus Sesma-Solance & Aritz Bilbao-Jayo & Rubén Mulero & Unai Zulaika & Gorka Azkune & Aitor Almeida, 2019. "Smart cities survey: Technologies, application domains and challenges for the cities of the future," International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, , vol. 15(6), pages 15501477198, June.
    13. Mauricio Marrone & Mara Hammerle, 2018. "Smart Cities: A Review and Analysis of Stakeholders’ Literature," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 60(3), pages 197-213, June.
    14. Dorina Pojani & Dominic Stead, 2015. "Sustainable Urban Transport in the Developing World: Beyond Megacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-22, June.
    15. Luca Mora & Roberto Bolici & Mark Deakin, 2017. "The First Two Decades of Smart-City Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 3-27, January.
    16. Marsal-Llacuna, Maria-Lluïsa, 2018. "Future living framework: Is blockchain the next enabling network?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 226-234.
    17. Vito Albino & Umberto Berardi & Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2015. "Smart Cities: Definitions, Dimensions, Performance, and Initiatives," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 3-21, January.
    18. Peter Bauer & Alan Thorpe & Gilbert Brunet, 2015. "The quiet revolution of numerical weather prediction," Nature, Nature, vol. 525(7567), pages 47-55, September.
    19. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    20. Sepasgozar, Samad M.E. & Hawken, Scott & Sargolzaei, Sharifeh & Foroozanfa, Mona, 2019. "Implementing citizen centric technology in developing smart cities: A model for predicting the acceptance of urban technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 105-116.
    21. Sinha, Avik & Sengupta, Tuhin & Alvarado, Rafael, 2020. "Interplay between Technological Innovation and Environmental Quality: Formulating the SDG Policies for Next 11 Economies," MPRA Paper 104247, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    22. M.J. Cobo & A.G. López-Herrera & E. Herrera-Viedma & F. Herrera, 2011. "Science mapping software tools: Review, analysis, and cooperative study among tools," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(7), pages 1382-1402, July.
    23. Lee, Jung Hoon & Hancock, Marguerite Gong & Hu, Mei-Chih, 2014. "Towards an effective framework for building smart cities: Lessons from Seoul and San Francisco," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 80-99.
    24. Luis Miguel Pérez & Raul Oltra-Badenes & Juan Vicente Oltra Gutiérrez & Hermenegildo Gil-Gómez, 2020. "A Bibliometric Diagnosis and Analysis about Smart Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-43, August.
    25. Zihan Zhao & Yuhan Zhang, 2020. "Impact of Smart City Planning and Construction on Economic and Social Benefits Based on Big Data Analysis," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2020, pages 1-11, November.
    26. Zhou, Kaile & Fu, Chao & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Big data driven smart energy management: From big data to big insights," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 215-225.
    27. Ola Söderström & Till Paasche & Francisco Klauser, 2014. "Smart cities as corporate storytelling," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 307-320, June.
    28. Yi-Ming Guo & Zhen-Ling Huang & Ji Guo & Hua Li & Xing-Rong Guo & Mpeoane Judith Nkeli, 2019. "Bibliometric Analysis on Smart Cities Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-18, June.
    29. Li Zhao & Zhi-ying Tang & Xin Zou, 2019. "Mapping the Knowledge Domain of Smart-City Research: A Bibliometric and Scientometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-28, November.
    30. Carsten Maple, 2017. "Security and privacy in the internet of things," Journal of Cyber Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 155-184, May.
    31. Zaheer Allam & David Jones, 2021. "Future (post-COVID) digital, smart and sustainable cities in the wake of 6G: Digital twins, immersive realities and new urban economies," Post-Print hal-03477845, HAL.
    32. Aksel Ersoy & Klaus Chaves Alberto, 2019. "Understanding urban infrastructure via big data: the case of Belo Horizonte," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 374-379, January.
    33. Annalisa Cocchia, 2014. "Smart and Digital City: A Systematic Literature Review," Progress in IS, in: Renata Paola Dameri & Camille Rosenthal-Sabroux (ed.), Smart City, edition 127, pages 13-43, Springer.
    34. Allam, Zaheer & Jones, David S., 2021. "Future (post-COVID) digital, smart and sustainable cities in the wake of 6G: Digital twins, immersive realities and new urban economies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    35. Agnieszka Janik & Adam Ryszko & Marek Szafraniec, 2020. "Scientific Landscape of Smart and Sustainable Cities Literature: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-39, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mariusz J. Ligarski & Tomasz Owczarek, 2023. "How Cities Study Quality of Life and Use This Information: Results of an Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Mahnoosh Hassankhani & Mehdi Alidadi & Ayyoob Sharifi & Abolghasem Azhdari, 2021. "Smart City and Crisis Management: Lessons for the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-18, July.
    3. Zaheer Allam & Simon Elias Bibri & Didier Chabaud & Carlos Moreno, 2022. "The Theoretical, Practical, and Technological Foundations of the 15-Minute City Model: Proximity and Its Environmental, Social and Economic Benefits for Sustainability," Post-Print hal-03997394, HAL.
    4. Zaheer Allam & Simon Elias Bibri & Didier Chabaud & Carlos Moreno, 2022. "The Theoretical, Practical, and Technological Foundations of the 15-Minute City Model: Proximity and Its Environmental, Social and Economic Benefits for Sustainability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-20, August.
    5. Renata Biadacz & Marek Biadacz, 2021. "Implementation of “Smart” Solutions and An Attempt to Measure Them: A Case Study of Czestochowa, Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-28, September.
    6. Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger, 2023. "Urban Adaptation to Climate Change State of the Art: Evaluating the Role of Adaptation Assessment Frameworks through a Systematic and Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-27, June.
    7. Xiaofeng Ji & Haotian Guan & Mengyuan Lu & Fang Chen & Wenwen Qin, 2022. "International Research Progress in School Travel and Behavior: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-25, July.
    8. Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger, 2022. "The Roadmap to Smart Cities: A Bibliometric Literature Review on Smart Cities’ Trends before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Changlong Sun & Yongli Zhang & Wenwen Ma & Rong Wu & Shaojian Wang, 2022. "The Impacts of Urban Form on Carbon Emissions: A Comprehensive Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, August.
    10. Ayyoob Sharifi & Amir Reza Khavarian-Garmsir & Rama Krishna Reddy Kummitha, 2021. "Contributions of Smart City Solutions and Technologies to Resilience against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-28, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sha, Kritika & Taeihagh, Araz & De Jong, Martin, 2024. "Governing disruptive technologies for inclusive development in cities: A systematic literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    2. Li Zhao & Zhi-ying Tang & Xin Zou, 2019. "Mapping the Knowledge Domain of Smart-City Research: A Bibliometric and Scientometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-28, November.
    3. Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger, 2022. "The Roadmap to Smart Cities: A Bibliometric Literature Review on Smart Cities’ Trends before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Gleb V. Savin, 2021. "The smart city transport and logistics system: Theory, methodology and practice," Upravlenets, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 12(6), pages 67-86, October.
    5. Schiavone, Francesco & Paolone, Francesco & Mancini, Daniela, 2019. "Business model innovation for urban smartization," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 210-219.
    6. Mora, Luca & Deakin, Mark & Reid, Alasdair, 2019. "Combining co-citation clustering and text-based analysis to reveal the main development paths of smart cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 56-69.
    7. Zaheer Allam & Ayyoob Sharifi & Simon Elias Bibri & Didier Chabaud, 2022. "Emerging Trends and Knowledge Structures of Smart Urban Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-29, April.
    8. Renata Biadacz & Marek Biadacz, 2021. "Implementation of “Smart” Solutions and An Attempt to Measure Them: A Case Study of Czestochowa, Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-28, September.
    9. Secinaro, Silvana & Brescia, Valerio & Lanzalonga, Federico & Santoro, Gabriele, 2022. "Smart city reporting: A bibliometric and structured literature review analysis to identify technological opportunities and challenges for sustainable development," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 296-313.
    10. Karimikia, Hadi & Bradshaw, Robert & Singh, Harminder & Ojo, Adegboyega & Donnellan, Brian & Guerin, Michael, 2022. "An emergent taxonomy of boundary spanning in the smart city context – The case of smart Dublin," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    11. Mora, Luca & Deakin, Mark & Reid, Alasdair, 2019. "Strategic principles for smart city development: A multiple case study analysis of European best practices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 70-97.
    12. Munan Li, 2019. "Visualizing the studies on smart cities in the past two decades: a two-dimensional perspective," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(2), pages 683-705, August.
    13. Johannes Stübinger & Lucas Schneider, 2020. "Understanding Smart City—A Data-Driven Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.
    14. Łukasz Brzeziński & Magdalena Krystyna Wyrwicka, 2022. "Fundamental Directions of the Development of the Smart Cities Concept and Solutions in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-52, November.
    15. van den Buuse, Daniel & Kolk, Ans, 2019. "An exploration of smart city approaches by international ICT firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 220-234.
    16. Guido Perboli & Mariangela Rosano, 2020. "A Taxonomic Analysis of Smart City Projects in North America and Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-23, September.
    17. Kummitha, Rama Krishna Reddy, 2018. "Entrepreneurial urbanism and technological panacea: Why Smart City planning needs to go beyond corporate visioning?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 330-339.
    18. Parul Gupta & Sumedha Chauhan & M. P. Jaiswal, 2019. "Classification of Smart City Research - a Descriptive Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 661-685, June.
    19. Alan-Miguel Valdez & Matthew Cook & Stephen Potter, 2018. "Roadmaps to utopia: Tales of the smart city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(15), pages 3385-3403, November.
    20. LEBRUMENT, Norbert & ZUMBO-LEBRUMENT, Cédrine & ROCHETTE, Corinne & ROULET, Thomas J., 2021. "Triggering participation in smart cities: Political efficacy, public administration satisfaction and sense of belonging as drivers of citizens’ intention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7140-:d:582059. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.