Smart city modeling: a social network analysis approach

Developing an appropriate governance model for smart city is complicated as it involves a variety of social and technical components. This article addresses the question of how a network model can provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interactions among smart city components and their evolution over time by proposing a network-based approach to analyze smart city development. Starting with an Input–Output model, 14 key components of smart cities are identified. The model is then extended using a social network framework, revealing 91 potential interconnections among these components. A bibliometric analysis (1998–2023) of 214,211 articles measures the components' significance and tracks shifts over time. A qualitative review of the 25 most relevant articles further explores the interplay of three main components. Findings highlight the dynamic and multidimensional nature of smart city development, emphasizing the central role of ‘data assets’ and the evolving interconnections within the network. The findings are useful to researchers and practitioners by drawing attention to changes in the smart city concept over time and the connections between the various components involved in the process of smart city development. They also offer a new modeling tool to analyze the relative importance of nodes and edges in the scientific literature.