4 Journal of Urban Technology The metabolism of cities generally consists of the input of goods and the output of waste with consistent negative externalities,which amplify social and economic problems.Cities rely on too many external resources and,as a matter of fact,they are(and probably will always be)consumers of resources.Promoting sustainability has been interpreted through the promotion of natural capital stocks.Other,more recent,interpretations of urban sustainability have promoted a more anthropocentric approach,according to which cities should respond to people's needs through sustainable solutions for social and economic aspects Turcu,2013;Berardi,2013a;2013b). The current scenario requires cities to find ways to manage new challenges. Cities worldwide have started to look for solutions which enable transportation linkages,mixed land uses,and high-quality urban services with long-term posi- tive effects on the economy.For instance,high-quality and more efficient public transport that responds to economic needs and connects labor with employment 1snany is considered a key element for city growth.Many of the new approaches related to urban services have been based on harnessing technologies,including ICT, helping to create what some call "smart cities." A The concept of the smart city is far from being limited to the application of technologies to cities.In fact,the use of the term is proliferating in many sectors with no agreed upon definitions.This has led to confusion among urban policy makers,hoping to institute policies that will make their cities "smart." This paper seeks to advance state-of-the-art knowledge on what a smart city is,what its key dimensions are,and how its performance can be evaluated.It is based on a review of the literature,including peer reviewed papers published after 2008.In particular,it is structured as follows.First,the main definitions of "smart city"are reviewed,highlighting the different meanings given to this concept and the several perspectives through which it has been studied;next,it analyzes the key dimensions of a smart city;then it focuses on the measures of per- formance of a smart city,reports on the experiences of so called,smart cities; finally closing with a discussion of the main findings of the study. 名 apeojumo Definitions of Smart Cities Many definitions of smart cities exist.A range of conceptual variants is often obtained by replacing"smart"with alternative adjectives,for example,"intelli- gent"or "digital".The label "smart city"is a fuzzy concept and is used in ways that are not always consistent.There is neither a single template of framing a smart city,nor a one-size-fits-all definition of it(O'Grady and O'Hare,2012). The term was first used in the 1990s.At that time,the focus was on the signifi- cance of new ICT with regard to modern infrastructures within cities.The Califor- nia Institute for Smart Communities was among the first to focus on how communities could become smart and how a city could be designed to implement information technologies (Alawadhi et al.,2012).Some years later,the Center of Governance at the University of Ottawa started criticizing the idea of smart cities as being too technically oriented.In this reading,the smart city should have a strong governance-oriented approach which emphasizes the role of social capital and relations in urban development.However,the "smart city" label diffused in the first years of the new century as an "urban labelling" phenomenon.A few years ago,researchers started asking real smart cities toThe metabolism of cities generally consists of the input of goods and the output of waste with consistent negative externalities, which amplify social and economic problems. Cities rely on too many external resources and, as a matter of fact, they are (and probably will always be) consumers of resources. Promoting sustainability has been interpreted through the promotion of natural capital stocks. Other, more recent, interpretations of urban sustainability have promoted a more anthropocentric approach, according to which cities should respond to people’s needs through sustainable solutions for social and economic aspects (Turcu, 2013; Berardi, 2013a; 2013b). The current scenario requires cities to find ways to manage new challenges. Cities worldwide have started to look for solutions which enable transportation linkages, mixed land uses, and high-quality urban services with long-term posi￾tive effects on the economy. For instance, high-quality and more efficient public transport that responds to economic needs and connects labor with employment is considered a key element for city growth. Many of the new approaches related to urban services have been based on harnessing technologies, including ICT, helping to create what some call “smart cities.” The concept of the smart city is far from being limited to the application of technologies to cities. In fact, the use of the term is proliferating in many sectors with no agreed upon definitions. This has led to confusion among urban policy makers, hoping to institute policies that will make their cities “smart.” This paper seeks to advance state-of-the-art knowledge on what a smart city is, what its key dimensions are, and how its performance can be evaluated. It is based on a review of the literature, including peer reviewed papers published after 2008. In particular, it is structured as follows. First, the main definitions of “smart city” are reviewed, highlighting the different meanings given to this concept and the several perspectives through which it has been studied; next, it analyzes the key dimensions of a smart city; then it focuses on the measures of per￾formance of a smart city, reports on the experiences of so called, smart cities; finally closing with a discussion of the main findings of the study. Definitions of Smart Cities Many definitions of smart cities exist. A range of conceptual variants is often obtained by replacing “smart” with alternative adjectives, for example, “intelli￾gent” or “digital”. The label “smart city” is a fuzzy concept and is used in ways that are not always consistent. There is neither a single template of framing a smart city, nor a one-size-fits-all definition of it (O’Grady and O’Hare, 2012). The term was first used in the 1990s. At that time, the focus was on the signifi- cance of new ICT with regard to modern infrastructures within cities. The Califor￾nia Institute for Smart Communities was among the first to focus on how communities could become smart and how a city could be designed to implement information technologies (Alawadhi et al., 2012). Some years later, the Center of Governance at the University of Ottawa started criticizing the idea of smart cities as being too technically oriented. In this reading, the smart city should have a strong governance-oriented approach which emphasizes the role of social capital and relations in urban development. However, the “smart city” label diffused in the first years of the new century as an “urban labelling” phenomenon. A few years ago, researchers started asking real smart cities to 4 Journal of Urban Technology Downloaded by [Shanghai Jiaotong University] at 01:47 22 August 2017