The Potential Role of Public Libraries in a Quadruple Helix Model of “Smart City” Development: Lessons from Chattanooga, Tennessee

Fostering Smart Citizens: The Role of Public Libraries in Smart City Development

“…In sum, there is a growing awareness of the critical role of smart citizens in making cities smarter. Although research increasingly recognizes developing smart cities and smart citizens as a collaborative effort strengthened by different actors with complementary roles, such knowledge is limited in scope and focuses on more traditional actors, paying less attention to community-rooted organizations such as public libraries that have been neutral, inclusive spaces where diverse stakeholders can access and use various technologies with the purpose of increasing their action potential and creativity as smart citizens contributing to smart city development [9,[83][84][85][86][87][88][89]. In particular, libraries can provide training for citizens to learn, use, and experiment with the technologies and data essential to bettering their lives in smart cities [90][91][92][93][94][95].…”

“…In particular, libraries can provide training for citizens to learn, use, and experiment with the technologies and data essential to bettering their lives in smart cities [90][91][92][93][94][95]. Further, public libraries can be community-level spaces where citizens and other stakeholders can interact and democratically and equitably participate in smart city development [83][84][85][86]96,97], and develop innovative solutions to shared urban challenges [20,40,55,71,143]. As enduring community organizations, libraries can persistently contribute to developing smart citizens [9,[83][84][85][86][87][88][89], and such contributions can be complex and interrelated [83,86,156].…”

“…Extant studies on smart citizens are mostly informed by ad hoc or pilot projects often led by more traditional smart city actors [60,70,80,81]. Research also suggests that community-rooted organizations such as public libraries (in the U.S. context, a public library is defined as an entity "established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, and provides at least the following: (1) an organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof; (2) paid staff; (3) an established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public; (4) the facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule, and ( 5) is supported in whole or in part with public funds" [82]) can contribute to the development of smart citizens in a sustained manner [9,[83][84][85][86][87][88][89]. In this respect, nascent research posits that public libraries can develop smart citizens threefold, serving as community-level spaces for: (1) training (with citizens as ICT users), (2) participation (with citizens as democratic participants), and (3) innovation (with citizens as co-creators) [83][84][85][86][87][88][89].…”

“…First, public libraries develop smart citizens by serving as hubs for different community members to learn, engage, and experiment with technology and data that underpin smart cities, providing them with awareness and training on how to use these technologies to improve their lives [90][91][92][93][94][95]. Second, public libraries expand opportunities for diverse citizens to actively and democratically participate in smart city development, ensuring that smart city goals and objectives are aligned with actual community interests and priorities [83][84][85][86]96,97]. Third, public libraries support innovation through resources, experimental spaces, and interactions that enable citizens and other community stakeholders to co-create technology-and data-based solutions that meet various needs [83,[98][99][100][101].…”

“…Second, public libraries expand opportunities for diverse citizens to actively and democratically participate in smart city development, ensuring that smart city goals and objectives are aligned with actual community interests and priorities [83][84][85][86]96,97]. Third, public libraries support innovation through resources, experimental spaces, and interactions that enable citizens and other community stakeholders to co-create technology-and data-based solutions that meet various needs [83,[98][99][100][101]. However, further research is still needed to better understand the details of these three roles.…”