Key Role of Administration in ”Smart Cities” Development

Among the „hot” policies priorities of European Policy is the “Smart City” (Washburn, 2011) as a consequence of the fact that “today 78% of European citizens live in cities, and 85% of the EU’s GDP is generated in cities (Smart cities EU, 2013). These spatial agglomerations of populations are accompanied with positive externalities like:”jobs, growth and investment, innovation, energy efficiency, low-carbon development”, providing better quality of life for its inhabitants. Challenges or opportunities produce for all actors of these agglomerations the need of developing new behaviours and regulations. In global competitive framework becomes more and more visible that only the cities that are able to find solutions for all its members (citizens, business, all stakeholders) and use the technology in an intelligent manner will attract resources and will improve citizens’ lives or else will be deserted. There is out of question the success of any Smart technologies application in the cities infrastructure without the city administration inclusion next to “education, healthcare, public safety, real estate, transportation, and utilities - in a more intelligent, interconnected, and efficient.” (The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations, 2014). Dirks (2009) links the “smart city” concept with government or public administration and its citizen, including new channels of communication for the citizens, e.g. "e-governance" or "e-democracy". This integrated approach moves from the “Smart Governance” (Batagan, 2011) towards The Urban Systems Collaborative inter-disciplinary community shaping. (Harrison &Donnelly, 2011). At this moment there are many debates regarding the “smart city” main dimensions, including or not the administration / governance. Our intention is to emphasise the key role of administration / governance in the life of the “smart city”.