There is growing concern that implementing effective governance constitutes a significant element in cities becoming ‘smart’ due to its multidisciplinary, complexity of urban challenges and multi-stakeholder involvement. It is assumed that in smart city initiatives, new governance modes arise through the interplay of technological artefacts and political and social factors, viewed through a sociotechnical perspective.
The traditional urban governance modes help explain emerging modes and the nature of citizen-government interactions. Thus, a combination of the sociotechnical view with the modes of urban governance as a theoretical approach was used to understand the dynamics of emerging governance modes in smart city initiatives.