The growing use of ICT technology and so-called Smart City-, community-, region- initiatives opens up new areas for public innovation, especially regarding the development of local dimension of governance in the High North. Such innovations can give greater voice to local stakeholders, in relation to strategic, urban and financial planning decisions in the High North territories. However, knowledge about the existing and new practices of local stakeholders’ involvement/participation and Smart Cities in the context of the High North is mostly missing. Smart City initiatives suggest technological development of cities with focus on infrastructures and services which improve citizens’ life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory governance (PG). PG concept suggests that local stakeholders (e.g. citizens) become active contributors into local governance, including strategic, urban and financial planning.
Founded on an international team of researchers from Norway, Russia and Finland, SMARTNORTH project combines the fields of public administration, management and organizational science. By these means, project group investigates the scope of and driving forces for the development of PG and Smart City initiatives in High North along with their potential effects on sustainable development in High North communities.
On the first phase of the project, the project team has been mapping existing experiences of PG and Smart City initiatives via a comprehensive media and documentary review of 76 cities in the High North of Norway, Russia, Finland and North America. The preliminary findings demonstrate that: while the smart city initiatives are growing in the High North, the concept, developed outside the High North, requires careful interpretation and translation into its unique context with the use of PG mechanisms and performance management. The results show that, with minority exceptions, the Smart City and PG initiatives are disconnected from each other. It seems that the global Smart City technological solutions are introduced regardless acknowledging local communities needs and unique challenges of the High North.
On the current phase of the project, the project team identified several cities to conduct in-depth studies of Smart City and PG initiatives in the High North, namely in Norway (Bodø), Finland (Oulu), Russia (Murmasnk, Tuemen and Solekhard) and North America (Anchorage). This in-depth investigation will give more comprehensive knowledge on challenges and opportunities of Smart City and PG initiatives to contribute into sustainable development of High North communities. Following up these cases, the project will summarize Smart City and PG initiatives in the High North by countries' comparison.
For the current moment, the project resulted in 3 peer-review publications, one paper under review and 3 working papers presented in international conferences/seminars in Norway, Finland, Russia and even New Zealand. In addition, the project group published 3 newspaper chronicles and actively promoted the project ideas and findings via presentations for public and practitioners. The expected output of the project is five papers in international academic journals, several chronicles in High North newspapers, a policy-oriented report with participatory practices' guidelines and a bank of participatory practices and Smart City initiatives in the High North.