What is Sustainable Smart Cities

Research on sustainable cities, smart cities, and, more recently, sustainable smart cities has gained great traction due to the current grand challenges that cities face. However, even if there are diverse and somehow coherent definitions available for sustainable cities and for smart cities, the definition of sustainable smart cities and the theoretical framework behind it remain underexplored. This gap hinders the effective deployment of policies and initiatives that successfully led cities to be sustainable and smart. The present study aims to address the ambiguity behind the term “sustainable smart cities” and to broaden the scope of the concept by suggesting that sustainable smart cities must be sustainability-coherent, consider limited growth and maximized awareness, and include the combination of bottom-up and top-down initiatives. This study aims to nurture the literature on urban sustainability and smartness and to give guidance for policy and decision makers in their journey towards sustainable smart cities.