Designing a Conceptual Model for Financing Smart Cities with the Grounded Theory Approach (case study: Tehran Municipality)

Introduction :

To solve urban problems, smart city concepts have created a significant leap in related perspectives and solutions. Smart cities have also gained increased attention due to the need to use smart solutions and utilize information and communication technology as a positive force for sustainable life. It is called a smart city when it invests in human capital, traditional transportation infrastructure, and modern information and communications technology infrastructure to enable sustained economic growth and high quality of life. This definition emphasizes the role of investment and the provision of financial resources in smart cities. The financing of smart city projects has been done to a considerable extent based on the current budget of Tehran Municipality. The various areas of investment have not played a significant role in the aforementioned projects. Various issues related to the country’s technological embargo have had an impact on this process as well. There is a need for new financing approaches for these cities. So, we have examined various cases of such approaches in this research. By designing a conceptual Grounded Theory model, the current study aims to identify the factors that influence the provision of financial resources for information technology projects in the smart city.

According to its purpose, the current research is applied research, and its method of data collection is a library and field study. We used snowball sampling to collect the required data and information, which simultaneously collected the data, analyzed it, and selected the next samples based on the analysis of the previous samples. The research components were determined using document review and open and semi-structured interviews with 20 experts and consultants. The interviews were summarized using grounded theory. To ensure the validity of the interviews, after designing the interview framework, four research experts were consulted and the necessary changes were incorporated. For each interview, open-ended questions were used to solicit opinions, and then the answers were noted and coded. To determine the reliability of the interviews, the subject agreement method was used between two coders.

In this research, the steps of the Grounded theory were carried out in three stages: 1) study and collection of primary data, 2) semi-structured interview with experts, 3) coding of data to obtain concepts and components and establish relationships among them, resulting in three types of coding (open, axial, and selection). 210 key points and 79 open codes were identified in the open coding phase. Codes identified during the interviews include reducing the time to conclude a contract, improving contract governance, changing the category of financing, separating the contractor from the investor, increasing the importance of the profit of the projects, the problems of cumbersome procedures, the quality of the preliminary studies of the projects and the certainty of conducting the preliminary studies, and the existence of a sense of trust and the current platforms of technology. The axial coding stage identified 24 subcategories, and during the selective coding stage, the general categories of the conceptual model were identified based on these categories. These categories included causal conditions, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences.

According to the results of the research, based on current economic conditions and indicators, such as inflation and exchange rates economic factors should be considered as causal conditions, and other causal conditions can include risk management, skill and behavioral characteristics of management, financial resources availability, contract management, and financial structure. Before starting to provide financial resources for projects, basic conditions should be provided; project life cycle management is one of these things. Every smart plan or project that is defined, planned, and implemented from the beginning has a certain lifespan and definitely, the use of any funding mechanism can be defined during its useful life, and sometimes the increase in project time will have a significant impact on the primary mechanisms. The model also identifies technology management, smart project nature, and data availability as contextual factors. An intervening condition in a Grounded theory model affects a strategy. Intervention conditions include political factors, organizational structure, debt management, stakeholder management, and innovation management, as well as the development and application of business models, training and culturalization of managers in how to provide financial resources, and improving financial and executive governance systems as model strategies are defined.