Towards Designing Effective Governance Regimes for Smart City Initiatives: The Case of the City of Duisburg

Smart cities are characterized by heterogenic stakeholders, many layers of authorities, complex decision-making processes, and competing objectives. As a result, they require a sophisticated and well-planned governance regime. We describe the development and design of a governance regime which is grounded on IS principles as well as the resulting governance structure in a medium-sized city in Europe. Using the action design research approach, we designed, implemented, and revised in multiple iterations an ensemble artifact consisting of the governance structures and processes for a smart city initiative. Our empirical observations highlight challenges of coordination, communication, and innovation in this smart city and report on how we implemented and adjusted the governance regime accordingly. Our results are a first step towards general recommendations for the design and implementation of smart city governance regimes in medium-sized cities.