Drivers and Barriers for the development of Smart Sustainable Cities:
Luiza Schuch de Azambuja
Abstract
The term Smart Sustainable City (SSC) has been gaining popularity due to the growth of initiatives to address urban problems towards sustainable development. SSC can be considered as a combination of sustainable city and smart city, and some variance between the concepts may be expected. As this is a modern term, the literature falls short of studies presenting factors that hinder and/or facilitate the complex phenomenon of SSC development. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse scientific studies to identify aspects that influence the progress of smart sustainable cities. The methodological approach undertaken was a systematic literature review that included 169 papers. The results offer a comprehensive list of 57 drivers and 63 barriers, classified according to five main dimensions of a smart sustainable city, which are the three sustainability pillars (society, environment, and economy), combined to governance, and urban infrastructure. The findings revealed ‘governance’ as the most significant domain for SSC development, and multistakeholder engagement as one of the main challenges. This study shows that SSC is not a research field itself, but an interdisciplinary concept, contributing to academics, government, and policymakers for eradicating potential interferences in the development of smart and sustainable cities.