A comparison of smart city research and practice in Sweden and Japan: trends and opportunities identified from a literature review and co-occurrence network analysis

Smart cities continue to be conceived and implemented around the world as literature documenting these trends grows at a similar pace. Practices focused on narrow techno-economic objectives have met with sharp criticism as scholars have called for human-centred smart cities that explicitly address social issues and the needs of residents. Yet, literature has made few attempts to systematically compare a representative sample of smart city practices and discussions using objective methods that combine quantitative and qualitative approaches. This study thus focuses on Sweden and Japan as two nations particularly active in the implementation and discussion of smart cities. To compare the state of discussions and practices in each country, we examine a sample of almost 2,000 academic studies published since 2010. Using co-occurrence network analysis (a type of content analysis), we objectively identify the thematic foci of discourse and practices in each country. We then explore the themes characterising each country’s network with qualitative descriptions from the sampled literature. Our analysis reveals unique trends in both countries related to the conceptual framing of smart cities, participation of local government and citizens, and differing interpretations of vulnerability to hazards. Overall, combined findings from both countries reveal that technology-focused discussions are dominating over social topics, such as human capital, stakeholder participation, governance, social equity and so forth. The absence of socially oriented research is more pronounced, however, in Japan. These findings provide important cues for future smart city research, policy and practice.