Openness: A Key Factor for Smart Cities

Openness in smart cities incorporates three key dimensions – transparency, participation, and collaboration – which affect various domains such as data processing or service provision. Using examples from ongoing and previous research, this chapter also discusses how to realize openness in practice and what benefits and drawbacks can result from different degrees of openness. Based on these considerations, a number of key issues are highlighted that are important to take into account in the design of smart cities and in the transformation process towards a sustainable, smart, and open city.