Urban crowdsourcing: exploring the role of citizens in co-creating smart cities

More than ever, cities are facing complex challenges due to an increasing number of residents and due to the scarcity of natural resources. As a possible solution to these challenges, the concept of “smart cities” has emerged pointing out that cities need to become intelligent in order to enhance their efficiency and to improve their competitiveness. A Smart City is characterized through six common indicators: smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart environment, smart mobility, and smart living (Giffinger et al., 2007). Despite some recent research examining the role of citizens in smart cities, work in this area is still at a nascent stage. Our research suggests considering citizens as a driving force for the development of smarter cities and thereby encourages the emergence of new methods of design, construction and management of the city. More particularly, crowdsourcing has been suggested as an innovative approach of interaction between a city and its residents (Renault &Boutigny, 2014). Crowdsourcing practices draw on citizens’ resources, ideas and creativity to support the urban development. Thereby, crowdsourcing uses the Internet to attract users who are willing to provide their inputs and insights. This conceptual research contributes to the smart city and crowdsourcing literature by providing an integrative overview of crowdsourcing practices considered as a useful digital tool to complement traditional participation practices for governance. From a managerial perspective, we provide guidance in designing successful smart cities for a better future.