DATA- AND KNOWLEDGE-DRIVEN SMART CITY STRATEGIES: RESEARCH ON IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN TURKEY

The present study sought an answer to the question, “What kind of challenges do local governments in Turkey confront while implementing data- and knowledge-driven smart city strategies?”. It seems noteworthy to explore tacit links between such implementation challenges through a field study employing an exploratory design. Thanks to the original theoretical framework enriched with empirical findings, this research is expected to bring practical and theoretical contributions to the smart city literature. The data were gathered through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 23 personnel of Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality (SMM), which has become the very first local government in Turkey to have introduced a smart city strategy and action plan. In this field research employing a single case, the content analysis technique was utilized to interpret the findings. Accordingly, SMM is faced with basically data-driven difficulties such as data security, poor technological and physical infrastructure, insufficient budget and high costs, dubious legal regulations and bureaucracy, resistance to change, lack of human resources and high turnover, and digital divide while implementing its smart city strategy.