Transposing Integrated Data-Driven Urban Planning from Theory to Practice: Guidelines for Smart and Sustainable Cities

The smart city (SC) discourse is a dynamic academic field pushed by a drive for urban digitalization and the convergence of urban planning and management with advances in information-communication technologies (ICT). A standardization of the professional profile “smart city expert” would benefit both the academic discourse, by positioning the field and outlining a competence set for education and cities, by characterizing the disruption of the SC paradigm to their current practices. One approach to define such a profile is through a literature review; however, a bottom-up approach deriving standards from practice is equally important. This study presents a step-by-step methodology for smart urban planning, defining accompanying activities to a conventional planning process. These activities use ICT to accessorize planning with improving the efficiency of evidence generation, increasing the range of actions based on evidence, and the transferability of knowledge expanding participation scope. The planning process is validated in four case studies on planning challenges with complex, multi-sectoral implications. The practice-based approach demonstrated the impact of the chosen ICT-accessorized planning process, and the feedbacks outlined the necessity of a professional with a broad knowledge of urban planning that is supplemented by specific data science skills and an understanding of the ICT market.