Smart City as a Service System: A Framework to Improve Smart Service Management

Abstract

The paper proposes the re-conceptualization of the smart city as a service system, in line with the recent service theories, such as Service-Dominant logic and Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Design. Starting from a short literature review about service system and smart city, a model characterized by a reticular configuration is proposed. The framework identifies the most adequate organizational layout to foster resources exchange, value co-creation and enhance co-learning among multiple actors. The goal is to highlight that the development of collaborative logics, resulting in continuous processes of cooperation between public and private decision-makers and citizens, allows multiplying moments of value creation as a result of synergistic interactions. This collaborative logic involves citizens, who are seen as a system of customers with whom objectives and knowledge are shared and with which the engagement must be sought, as they represent fundamental partners in achieving the specific objective of value co-creation. The proposed framework highlights the systemic nature of both the smart city and the service system and proposes practical and theoretical implications for public and private services management.