Governance innovation for crisis-stricken smart cities: A roadmap to recovery and sustainability

Over the past decade, cities have emerged as centres of economic, social and environmental development. Challenges such as an ageing population, issues of inclusion, evolving poverty, migration patterns and environmental preservation are among the issues urban areas faced. In such a complex environment, municipalities are expected to play a pivotal role in territorial governance. The increasing responsibilities and the reduction of financial resources often generate financial crises for municipalities. In this scenery, a smart city framework, based on innovative collaborative governance and the use of technology, offers a potential roadmap to guide public administrations in overcoming urban crises. Focusing on the case study of Parma and its transformation into a smart city, the paper witnesses a potential blueprint for administrations seeking to implement virtuous processes capable of establishing an efficient and effective model for smart services. Parma, which represents the second largest city in the Emilia-Romagna region, in northern Italy, and a key hub for food production in Europe, offers a fascinating example. In fact, Parma has not only managed to overcome the crisis but, since 2017, has also become one of the top smart cities in the annual “ICity Rank index”. Furthermore, the smart city framework has provided Parma with an urban ecosystem that has strengthened its resilience. This paper examines how a near-default financial crisis triggered the implementation of a smart city model, and how a collaborative governance model, operationalised through a smart city strategy used as a window of opportunity, supported both financial recovery and cross-domain administrative reform.