| Abstract |
Creating a shared vision for smart cities by bringing together city leaders, universities, businesses, social enterprises, and civil society is what many smart city publications are promoting as models of public-private partnerships. Among all those the involvement of citizens turns to be crucial, therefore, the concept of public-private-people partnerships turns to be the new approach. The road to smart cities is difficult to establish - no clear beginning or end, and it could take ten to twenty years to achieve (few, as we will see in the article, managed the transformation in less than that). Today's decisions on city infrastructures and services will have consequences for future generations. There needs to be a huge cultural shift away from working in silos and towards integration across organizations, cities, and countries. Smart city partnerships need to bring people together but they also need to be a vehicle that commissions and manages smart infrastructure and technology, dealing with issues such as finance, privacy, and security. This paper will discuss this issue providing examples of success stories found in Romania and across the globe. |