Smart city planning for the creation of public value: an empirical analysis

The creation of local public value in a financially sustainable way is very complex. The smart city model can offer an innovative response to this complexity, contributing to improving the quality of life of citizens and pursuing sustainable socio-economic development. The implementation of an effective city model requires its inclusion in urban strategic planning, in an integrated and comprehensive manner, which can be favoured by regional, national, or international support policies. In this framework, the aim of this paper is twofold: on a theoretical level, it aims at contributing to the definition and implementation of smart city as a model for the creation of local public value and analysing the effectiveness of urban strategic planning within EU support policies; on a practical level, it assesses the integrated planning for urban development and the definition of the smart city model by a significant sample of medium-sized Italian cities, in order to make some critical considerations and draw useful recommendations for the future.