Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Citizen Empowerment and Innovation in the Data-Rich City pp 57–77Cite as

Crowdsourcing Processes for Citizen-Driven Governance

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering ((SPRTRCIENG))

Abstract

The chapter explores the current evolution of smart city paradigm characterized by worldwide-raising, spontaneous and bottom-up socio-technological networks that produce non-planned forms of citizen empowerment in urban governance, via crowdsourcing processes. It focuses on the role of citizen-centred data-richness for unlocking the full potential of people empowerment, which is currently less explored than top-down governance processes. Building upon the mounting critique toward the technocratic paradigm of smart city and the evidence of progressive diffusion of ICTs in public life, the following pages analyse how crowdsourcing can contribute to the creation of smart cities not as the outcomes of top-down, governmental programs or the business strategy of major technology companies, but rather as the consequence of self-empowering practices performed by social actors with the aim of improving the organisation and functioning of the city. Particularly, the chapter suggests that socio-technological networks can use crowdsourcing to spontaneously generate unpredictable positive effects, i.e. can deploy and operationalize the full potential of community-based initiatives, emerging from the interactions between heterogeneous social actors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Afuah, A., & Tucci, C. L. (2012). Crowdsourcing as a solution to distant search. Academy of Management Review, 3(3), 355–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agyemanm, J. (2015). Sharing cities: A case for truly smart and sustainable cities. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allwinkle, S., & Cruickshank, P. (2011). Creating smart-er cities: An overview. Journal of Urban Technology, 18(2), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ansari, S., Munir, K., & Gregg, T. (2012a). Impact at the “Bottom of the Pyramid”: The role of social capital in capability development and community empowerment. Journal of Management Studies, 49(4), 813–842.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ansari, S., Munir, K., & Gregg, T. (2012b). Impact at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’: The role of social capital in capability development and community empowerment. Journal of Management Studies, 49(4), 813–84230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arup. (2011). Smart cities: Transforming the 21st city via the creative use of technology. Arup: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Batty, M., Axhausen, K., Fosca, G., Pozdnoukhov, A., Bazzani, A., Wachowicz, M., et al. (2012). Smart cities of the future. European Physical Journal, 214, 481–518.

    Google Scholar 

  • Batty, M., Manley, E., Milton, R., & Reades, J. (2013). Smart London. In S. Bell & J. Paskins (Eds.), Imagining the future city: London 2062. London: Ubiquity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brabham, D. C. (2008). Crowdsourcing as a model for problem solving an introduction and cases. Convergence, 14(1), 75–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brabham, D. C. (2009). Crowdsourcing the public participation process for planning projects. Planning Theory, 8, 242–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brabham, D.C. (2013). The four urban governance problem types suitable for crowdsourcing citizen participation. In Brabham, D.C. (ed.), Citizen E-participation in urban governance: Crowdsourcing and collaborative creativity, IGI-Global, pp. 50–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caprotti, F. (2014). Building the smart city: Moving beyond the critiques. UGEC Viewpoints, March 24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Certomà, C., Corsini, F., & Rizzi, F. (2015). Crowdsourcing urban sustainability. Data, people and technologies in participatory governance. Futures, 74, 93–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Certoma’, C., Pimbert, M. (2015). Crowdsourcing and action research. Fostering people’s participation in research through digital media. In H. Bradbury-Huang (ed.), Handbook of action research. Sage: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cocchia, A. (2014). Smart and digital city: A systematic literature review. In R. P. Dameri & C. Rosenthal-Sabroux (Eds.), Smart city. Switzerland: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1988). The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, 13, 471–482.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corsín Jiménez, A. (2014). The right to infrastructure: A prototype for open source urbanism. Environment and planning D: Society and space, 32, 342–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crang, M., & Graham, S. (2007). Sentient cities: Ambient intelligence and the politics of urban space. Information, Communication and Society, 10, 789–817.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Maggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan, M. G. (2008). Informal cities and the contestation of public space: The case of Bogotá’s street vendors, 1988–2003. Urban Studies, 45(1), 29–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estellés-Arolas, E., & González-Ladrón-De-Guevara, F. (2012). Towards an integrated crowdsourcing definition. Journal of Information Science, 38, 189–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felin, T., & Hesterly, W. S. (2007). The knowledge-based view, nested heterogeneity, and new value creation: Philosophical considerations on the locus of knowledge. Academy of Management Review, 32(1), 195–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C., & Schreier, M. (2011). Customer empowerment in new product development. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 28, 17–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funtowicz, S. O., & Ravetz, J. R. (1993). Science for the post-normal age. Futures, 25(7), 739–755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, D., & Krueger, R. (2012). Fractures in Meta‐Narratives of development: An interpretive institutionalist account of land use development in the boston City‐Region. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(2), 363–380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giffinger, R., Fertner, C., Kramar, H., Kalasek, R., Pichler-Milanovic, N. and Meijers, E. (2007). Smart cities. Ranking of European medium-sized cities. http://www.smartcities.eu/download/smart_cities_final_report.pdf

  • Gloria, A. De. (2015). Games and learning alliance. In A. De Gloria (Ed.), Games and learning alliance conference (Vol. 9221). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goodchild, N. F. (2007). Citizens as voluntary sensors: Spatial data infrastructure in the world of web 2.0. International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research, 2, 24–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, S., & Martin, S. (2001). Splintering urbanism: networked infrastructures. Routledge, London: Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Greenfield, A. (2013). Against the smart city. New York: Do Projects.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, O., LeCavalier, J., Calvillo, N., & Pietsch, W. (2013). Test-bed urbanism. Public Culture, 25(2), 272–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollands, R. G. (2008). Will the real smart city please stand up? City, 12(3), 303–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howe, J. (2006). The rise of crowdsourcing. Wired, 14(6).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaika, M., & Swyngedouw, E. (2000). Fetishizing the modern city: The phantasmagoria of urban technological networks. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 24(1), 120–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, A. W. (2007). Disentangling interfirm and intrafirm causal ambiguity: A conceptual model of causal ambiguity and sustainable competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 32(1), 156–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitchin, R. (2011). The programmable city. Environment and Planning B, 38, 945–951.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitchin, R. (2014a). The real-time city? Big Data and Smart Urbanism. GeoJournal, 79(1), 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitchin, R. (2014b). Making sense of smart cities: Addressing present shortcomings. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society,. doi:10.1093/cjres/rsu027

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitchin, R., Lauriault, T. P., & McArdle, G. (2015). Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking and real-time dashboards. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 2(1), 6–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knoben, J., & Oerlemans, L. A. G. (2006). Proximity and inter-organizational collaboration: A literature review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 8(2), 71–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanier, J. (2006). Digital Maoism. The Edge. org.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ledwith, M., & Springett, J. (2010). Participatory practice: Community-based action for transformative change. London: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, H., Ribera-Fumaz, R. (2014). Smart contradictions: The politics of making Barcelona a self-sufficient city. European Urban and Regional Studies, 20, doi:10.1177/0969776414554488

  • Marinetto, M. (2003). Who wants to be an active citizen? The politics and practice of community involvement. Sociology, 37(1), 103–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, M., & Rosende, S. (2011). Citizen participation in local agendas 21: Critical questions of urban governance. Scripta Nova. Revista Electronica De Geografia Y Ciencias Sociales, 15(3), 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Mahony, S., & Ferraro, F. (2007). The emergence of governance in an open source community. Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 1079–1106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxford Dictionary. (2015). Empowerement. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/it/definizione/inglese/empower

  • Papaoikonomou, E., Valverde, M., & Ryan, G. (2012). Articulating the meanings of collective experiences of ethical consumption. Journal of Business Ethics, 110(1), 15–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puerari, E., Concilio, G., Longo, A., Rizzo, F. (2013). Innovating public services in urban environments: A SOC inspired strategy proposal. In: international forum on knowledge asset dynamics (IFKAD), pp. 987–1007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, J. (2006). Limits to communities of practice. Journal of Management Studies, 43(3), 623–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, A. (2005). Urban informality: Toward an epistemology of planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(2), 147–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seltzer, E., & Mahmoudi, D. (2013). Citizen participation, open innovation, and crowdsourcing. Challenges and opportunities for planning. Journal of Planning Literature, 28(1), 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1988). Freedom of choice. European economic review, 32(2-3), 269–294. doi:10.1016/0014-2921(88)90173-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sennett, R. (2012) No one likes a city that’s too smart. The Guardian, December 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, J. M. (2006). Smart cities: Quality of life, productivity, and the growth effects of human capital. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 88(2), 324–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shatkin, G. (2004). Planning to forget: Informal settlements as ‘forgotten places’ in globalising metro Manila. Urban Studies, 41(12), 2469–2484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shelton, T., et al. (2015). The ‘actually existing smart city’. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 8(1), 13–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shepard, M. (2011). Sentient city: Ubiquitous computing, architecture, and the future of urban space. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirky, C. (2008). Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. London: Penguin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shwayri, S. (2013). A model Korean ubiquitous eco-city? The politics of making Songdo. Journal of Urban Technology, 20(1), 39–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siddal, E., Grey, T., & Dyer, M. (2013). Indicators and stakeholders engagement: A Dublin case study. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 166(2), 85–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A., & Raven, R. (2012). What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability. Research Policy, 41(6), 1025–1036. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2011.12.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Söderström, O., et al. (2014). Smart cities as corporate storytelling. City, 18(3), 307–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 1442–1465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swyngedouw, E. (2007). “Impossible ‘sustainability’ and the postpolitical condition. In R. Krueger & D. Gibbs (Eds.), The sustainable development paradox. Urban political economy in the United States and Europe. New York: Gilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrift, N. (2012). The insubstantial pageant: Producing an untoward land. Cultural Geographies, 19, 141–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, A. M. (2013). Smart cities. Big data, civic hackers, and the quest for a new utopia. Norton & Company: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Travis M. Maynard, L., Gilson, L., Mathieu, J.E. (2012). Empowerment–Fad or fab? A multilevel review of the past two decades of reserach. Journal of Management, 38(4):1231–1281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanolo, A. (2013). Smartmentality: The smart city as disciplinary strategy. Urban Studies, 51, 883–898.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, X., & Bartol, K. M. (2010). Linking empowering leadership and employee creativity: the influence of psychological empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and creative process engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 53(1), 107–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy

    Chiara Certomà & Francesco Rizzi

  2. Institute of Law, Politics and Development, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy

    Chiara Certomà

  3. Department of Economics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Francesco Rizzi

Authors
  1. Chiara Certomà
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Francesco Rizzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chiara Certomà .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Law, Politics and Development & Institute of management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy

    Chiara Certomà

  2. Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Mark Dyer

  3. Economic Informatics and Cybernetics Department, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

    Lorena Pocatilu

  4. Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy

    Francesco Rizzi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Certomà, C., Rizzi, F. (2017). Crowdsourcing Processes for Citizen-Driven Governance. In: Certomà, C., Dyer, M., Pocatilu, L., Rizzi, F. (eds) Citizen Empowerment and Innovation in the Data-Rich City. Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47904-0_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47904-0_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47903-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47904-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation