Digital Τransformation, Smart Cities, and Citizen Engagement: A comparison between three cities in Greece

The European Commission is actively engaging with smart cities and communities to confront local challenges, enhance citizen services, and fulfill the goals outlined in the European Green Deal. It supports the usage of digital tools by the local governments to better manage the resources and deal with issues and problems that emerge in local level. These digital tools can also result in a city administration that is more interactive and responsive, involving citizens in decision-making and policy formation. In every smart city project, there are some key components that support the digital transformation of the city and the local community, like citizen engagement, data-driven governance and cross-sector collaboration. Ensuring active participation and feedback from citizens is crucial. Projects may involve digital platforms or mobile apps to engage residents in decision-making processes, gather feedback, and enhance overall public involvement. Also, smart city initiatives leverage data for informed decision-making. This includes collecting and analyzing data to improve resource allocation, optimize services, and address urban challenges more effectively. Finally, collaboration between various stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector entities, academia, and citizens, is a key feature. This fosters a holistic and integrated approach to smart city development. In this paper, it is examined how are these key components realized in practice by three cities in Greece. Digital transformation and its supporting technologies that are implemented in these cities are examined, focusing on their impact on urban infrastructure and services in local level. Next, it is explored how these three cities have implemented and combined digital tools with citizen consultation and deliberation processes to achieve optimal outcomes in certain issues for the community. Finally, it is investigated if and how citizen engagement was enhanced in general through the use of these digital tools.