cost-effective and sustainable future. It is a common perception that what makes a city smart is the technology that efficiently delivers government services. In actu-ality, the success of technology lies in the hands of smart citizens. In this regard, we aim to look at the IoT environment from the point of smart city governance based on smart city data and citizens themselves. Citizen participation is an important aspect of governance. Therefore, governance is responsible to infuse smartness in citizens by providing quality education, moral values, and opportunities for overall growth [6].
In this chapter, we aim to propose data and citizen-centric smart city governance and discuss related IoT challenges. Remaining sections are organized as follows. In Sect.6.2, we elaborate the various concepts related to smart city governance and provide justification for data and citizen-centric smart city governance. In Sect. 6.3, we discuss in detail various IoT approaches to manage smart city governance and propose data and citizen-centric model for smart city governance. Section6.4 discusses IoT challenges in data and citizen-centric smart city governance; solutions are also presented. In Sect.6.5, important quality indicators of data and citizen-centric smart city governance are listed. Conclusion and future research areas are discussed in Sect.6.6.
6.2 Internet of Things Environment for Smart City
organizations (NGO), and corporate entities [8]. SMART governance refers to the process of government functioning to bring about smart, moral, accountable, responsible, and transparent governance [9]. Figure6.3is a smart city governance conceptual model to improve the interaction between G2C, G2B, G2G, and NGO, which aims to increase the administrative effectiveness and efficiency in the gov-ernance operations.
In this way, the strategic objective of IoT technology for smart city governance is to support and simplify governance, where stakeholders like citizens, civil society organizations, private companies, government lawmakers, and regulators on net-works can take active participation in nation building [8]. We aim to analyze factors that make IoT environment suitable for smart city governance. They are: connected environment for connected government, growth rate of Internet access, growing number of smart devices, people’s awareness on the role of government, advancements in ICTs, and effort toward sustainable growth.
6.2.1 Connected Environment for Connected Government
In a traditional city governance model, government services reach citizens in a hierarchical or top-down manner. Judgment, decisions, and policies are made at the top level and carried out by the lower ranks. They do manual reporting which result in time delay, slow process, etc. Add to this, various departments of the government such as health, education, public welfare, legal, etc. work in isolation. Additionally, not only departments but many cities and states in a country also act in isolation.
Though citizen welfare is the focus of all government departments in a city, their interactions are not collective and helpful to reach a common goal. Each department in a city collects citizen-related data and maintains their own welfare related activities.
Fig. 6.3 Smart city governance relations
IoT technology is able to create a connected environment between departments and states resulting in citizen welfare knowledge centre (KC). In Knowledge Centre (KC)-based approach, governance decisions, and policies are no more top-down but collective and collaborative. Citizen welfare activities can be carried out timely and efficiently in such an environment. Data collected from smart city can be shared with parties interested in citizen welfare. Efficient data analytics can help all departments of the smart city to provide citizen welfare services quick and in a time-bound manner. This paves the way for participation of citizens and agencies interested in citizen welfare. Therefore, IoT technology with its connected envi-ronment can bring the best in smart city governance.
6.2.2 Increased Number of Smart Devices and Internet Access
The demand for IoT technology for smart city governance has its roots in the increased number of smart devices and easy access to cheap Internet services.
Although in smart city governance, digital adoption is slow around the world, the numbers of people accessing digital services are increasing. The easy access to mobile connectivity and the business models of e-commerce are attracting users to prefer online services. For example, a network of almost 6000 UK online centers is established to allow people to access and familiarize with the online services.
Figure6.4 provides figures for world population, connected devices across the world and connected devices per person for the years 2003, 2010, 2015 and 2020.
The values of connected devices and population are in billions. We can see that in the year 2020, the connected devices will reach 50 billion and the population
Fig. 6.4 Growth chart of smart devices with population
7.6 billion making 6.58 connected devices per person. Rapid growth of smart devices and Internet has led governments in both developing and developed countries to use technology for efficient and effective service to the citizens. Besides fast delivery of services, government services can be extended to all geographical segments in the country round the clock, all days in a year.
Along with efficient smart city governance, sharing of data across the govern-ment departgovern-ments enable the policy makers to improve the quality of their deci-sions. Creating kc information database about development related activities facilitate the planners to make a holistic plan of city infrastructure such as location of hospitals, community health clinics, educational institutions, recreational ave-nues, etc. [9]. A careful planning of smart city governance can fully reap the benefits of IoT technology and connected environment.
6.2.3 IoT Technology: Government Performance Indicator
State of the art smart city facilities involve not only hugefinancial capital but also high maintenance cost. Therefore, pressure is mounting on the city governments to reduce the operating cost. At the same time, awareness level of citizens about the role of government is increasing. As a result, citizens expect an improved service from the city government with more flexibility, efficiency, and without any pre-mium rate for the additional services. Service delivery mechanisms are undergoing fundamental change and moving toward citizen-centric governance. Growing number of digital citizens also means increase in common man’s skill level in using the digital technology. Day by day, digital citizens are moving from passive con-sumers of government services to active concon-sumers. In smart city governance set up, the performance of the city government can easily be assessed, the loopholes easily identified and digital citizens can closely monitor and suggest if and when changes are needed. Framing city governance policies and stakeholder relationships are strengthened by smart city governance analysis.
6.2.4 Convergence of Network Technologies and City Governance
The IoT European Research Cluster (IERC) definition states that “IoT is a dynamic global networking infrastructure with self-configuring capabilities based on stan-dard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual things have identities, physical attributes, and virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated into the information network” [10]. IoT environment is made not of a single technology but convergence of many tech-nologies. Thus, IoT provides solutions based on the integration of information
technology: hardware and software used to store, retrieve, and process data and communication technology for communications between individuals and groups.
The rapid convergence of information and communication technology is taking place at three layers of technology innovation: the cloud, data and communication networks, and devices [10].
As a result of convergence, IoT applications require that industries and business houses adapt to converging IoT environment. This convergence will create new opportunities for startup, which in turn will benefit the users with enriched user experience. In addition, handling sheer number of things and objects that will be connected to the IOT, newer technological attempts such as cognitive technology, contextual intelligence, content, and context-aware applications, and fuzzy con-trolled systems that may reach the edges of the network through smart devices, make future of smart city governance bright. Hence, IoT is not only a network of computers, but it has evolved into a network of networks, where devices of all types and sizes, vehicles, smartphones, home appliances, toys, cameras, medical instru-ments, and industrial systems, all connected, all communicating, and sharing information at all time. This will benefit smart city governance in a big way.