Smart city research 1990–2016

Abstract

The methodology is partly based on the 'issue management' approach by Lancaster & Lee (1985) partly on common publication and citation analysis of the set of source documents (n=4,725), the set of their references (n=27,099) and the set of publications (n=7,863) citing the source documents. Median age analyses are included for the sets of references and citations to the source documents. DIVAlike diagrams (Database Information Visualization and Analysis system) are used to demonstrate the distribution of source documents over document types, time and volume of citations obtained. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is applied to topic modeling of the top-100 central WoS Categories of 'smart city(ies)' research and to the set of references. Findings show that the first mention of the concept 'smart city(ies)' in publication titles takes place in 1999. The research area demonstrates a strong multidisciplinary nature and an exponential growth of research publications (in WoS) 2008-2016 dominated by China, Italy, USA, Spain and England. The same five countries are also among the most citing and cited countries. Aside from a constantly strong ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Electrical/Electronic Engineering presence 'sustainability' elements (Energy, Transport, Environment) are also vital, in particular during the first and third analysis period. The references from the source documents have more distinct topical clusters than the source documents. Artificial Intelligence (AI) appears as a novel field among the source documents 2008-2016, but disappears from the top-25 list in the citing documents. Instead Economics, Water Resources and Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences move into the list. Proceedings papers, as in many other engineering and technology based research fields, are the dominant document type (70 %) but have small citation impact (0.6 c/p), thus decreasing the overall impact of the area to 3.6 c/p. Journal articles are the most cited type with 76 % of all citations received (impact 2008-2016: 7.5 c/p). Most citations to journal articles derive from journal articles themselves (76 %).

Artificial Intelligence, Transport and the Smart City: Definitions and Dimensions of a New Mobility Era

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