Smart governance through the prism of responsible urban development concept

Abstract

The goal of this article is to develop an authorial definition of ‘smart governance’ of urban development within the framework of the concept of ‘responsible development’, developed by the IMEMO RAS scientific school. The priorities of this concept are the use of intangible development resources, achieving a balanced growth model, and creating conditions for dialogue between development actors. The author relies on the identity and actor approach, the theory of communicative action by J. Habermas; methods of content analysis, comparative method, and in-depth interviews are used. The scientific discourse in the field of smart governance has been analyzed, and three main directions of conceptualizing the concept have been identified. The main characteristics (principles) of the author’s vision of smart governance within the framework of the concept of responsible development are formulated: 1) reliance of governance on scientific and expert interdisciplinary knowledge, as well as on the principles of evidence-based public policy; 2) formation of an understanding of the requests and interests of various development actors, ensuring correct communication, dialogue, and feedback; 3) formation of a positive development identity; 4) focus on the development of human potential and innovation culture based on intangible development resources, such as digital technologies. Using these principles as a basis for a matrix of analysis of managerial practices, the author studies a case from managerial practice - the project “Leaders of Digital transformation”. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the presence or absence of signs of smart governance in the project, and, if they are present, to determine the main factors of the project’s success in this context. To do this, tasks were set to identify the key narratives of the project, setting the framework for the interaction of its participants, as well as to identify the development actors involved in the project, the formats of their participation in the project, and models of their interaction. The study concluded that the analyzed managerial practice contains all the main characteristics of smart governance for the purposes of responsible development, and the main factors of its success in the context of this concept are the formation and development of a sustainable community, the construction of a space for informal dialogue and strengthening interper-sonal ties, and providing opportunities for personal development through participation in the life of the city and its business ecosystem.