A Social Network Analysis of the Spanish Network of Smart Cities

Ivan Serrano, Laura Calvet-Mir, Ramon Ribera-Fumaz, Isabel Díaz and Hug March
Additional contact information
Ivan Serrano: Estudis de Dret i Ciència Política, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Castelldefels, E-08860 Barcelona, Spain
Laura Calvet-Mir: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Castelldefels, E-08860 Barcelona, Spain
Ramon Ribera-Fumaz: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Castelldefels, E-08860 Barcelona, Spain
Isabel Díaz: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Castelldefels, E-08860 Barcelona, Spain
Hug March: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Castelldefels, E-08860 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: This paper explores the relations of centrality and hierarchy between cities and firms implementing Smart City strategies in the context of the Spanish Network of Smart Cities (RECI). While the literature has usually focused on the global dimension of cities and firms networks, exploring a national case offers interesting insights about the presence of multinational firms in these contexts and the role played by medium-sized cities in their market expansion. The analysis is based on a two-mode network of cities and firms participating in Smart City projects with the usual measures of betweenness, in-degree and closeness, as well as computing the Gini index for each of them to assess the levels of inequality. We then explore whether the structural advantages of participating in these networks have a leveling effect or rather reinforce existing hierarchies of cities. Second, we explore how firms are intertwined in Smart City projects and whether medium-sized local firms have a relevant presence. Our findings suggest these networks become a regional gateway for multinational firms to expand their presence in Smart City national markets, rather than empowering medium-sized cities and small national firms.

Keywords: smart cities; Spain; networks; firms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5219/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5219/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5219-:d:376767

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().