Citizen Participation in Smart Government: A Conceptual Model and Two IoT Case Studies

Abstract

In its simplest form, smart government can be understood as the combination of new technologies and organizational innovation strategies to further modernize the public sector. Within this development, the Internet of Things (IoT) often forms a key technological foundation, offering government authorities new possibilities for interaction with citizens and local communities. On the one hand, citizens can indirectly participate in governmental services' value creation by using public infrastructure or (un)knowingly sharing their data with the community. On the other hand, smart government initiatives may rely more intensively on citizens' active participation to improve public service delivery, increase trust in government actions, and strengthen community sentiment. In this chapter, we discuss active and passive participation scenarios of smart government initiatives and explain how sensor-based systems may enhance citizens' opportunities to participate in local governance. We present two practical cases from Switzerland demonstrating these two citizen involvement modes. We argue that active and passive participation of citizens and other stakeholders play a key role in generating necessary data for algorithmic decision-making to enable personalized interaction and real-time control of infrastructure in the future. We close with a discussion of the possibilities and boundaries of the IoT in the public sector and their possible influences on citizens' privacy and policy-making.

The Municipality’s Role in a Smart Internet of Things Ecosystem

“…In addition, IoT brings new possibilities for citizen involvement and participation that enhances public service delivery, increase trust in government, and strengthens community factors. It also facilitates data-sharing based on actors' personal affections, concerns, and solidarity to their neighbourhood (Guenduez, Mettler, & Schedler, 2020).…”

“…Further, the literature is not clear regarding whether or not public sector organizations should have a specific IoT strategy for smart city development (Velsberg, 2019). However, some cities and municipalities adapt their practices more to the new technology, whereas others focus more on the technology being a substitute to already working practices (Guenduez, Mettler, & Schedler, 2020). Mora, Deakin, &Reid (2019) believe that the different technologies are less relevant than the service itself.…”

“…M3 stated that their municipality only needs an IoT strategy when their sensors provide them with added value beyond the primary needs of the initial sensor placement. However, some researcher stress the importance of having a plan for IoT-implementation, explaining that municipal organization have to be aware of the needs of the technological components (Guenduez, Mettler, & Schedler, 2020) and how the technology shapes the local environment and collaboration (Velsberg, 2019). Hence, as the findings suggest, public sector organizations and the case-municipalities can benefit from having a strategic plan for IoT implementation and management.…”

Legitimizing the Smart City Idea: The Case of the #Smarthalle

“…Smart cities draw upon citizen involvement and participation, as this is considered a core element of their "smartness" (Kitchin 2014;Nam & Pardo 2011). Citizen participation is seen as a signal for legitimacy of an idea among citizens (Guenduez, Mettler & Schedler 2020a). Ideally, smart cities enhance government legitimacy by fostering citizen participation, thereby achieving outcomes such as sustainability and wealth (Meijer & Bolivar 2016).…”

Does IoT service orchestration in public services enrich the citizens’ perceived value of digital society?

“…The IoT technologies provide people with opportunities to participate and engage more in different activities within society and the perceived importance of such technologies is yet to be appreciated by them (El-Haddadeh et al, 2019). IoT is also a significant technological foundation, providing a unique structure for government to interact with citizens (Guenduez et al, 2020) and in this way, it attempts to examine citizens perceived value concerning IoT service orchestration. These innovative activities have motivated to continue this study to investigate the influencing factors of citizens' usage intention concerning IoT service orchestration in public sector services along with the mediation influence of perceived value.…”