Shaping smart cities: problem framing, vertical selection and governance in UK smart cities

This journal article explores the framing of city problems within the context of selecting smart city verticals. It also interrogates the factors underpinning the selection of these verticals across cities using smart city initiatives in seven UK cities, namely, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Nottingham, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle as case studies. It finds that city problems are framed either as ‘actually existing’ or potential problems for varied reasons and reveals that a combination of existing city services, pragmatism, entrepreneurialism and global and national imperatives underscore the selection of city verticals. It concludes that caution is warranted when framing smart cities as a solution to city problems.