Urban ARC x Publics@IIHS | The governance of smart cities скачать в хорошем качестве

Urban ARC x Publics@IIHS | The governance of smart cities

Urban ARC x Publics@IIHS | The governance of smart cities: Understanding and analysing the role of management consultants As we mark the 10th edition of Urban ARC in January 2026, Publics@IIHS is hosting a series of lectures with previous Urban ARC panellists, inviting them to reflect on and extend their work as part of the anniversary year. Opening this series is a lecture by Uttara Purandare, Postdoctoral researcher at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University & HEC Liege, Belgium, who spoke on her research on the governance of smart cities and the roles of management consultants within them. Uttara presented three of her research papers with co-authors, which explore the evolving role of consultants in urban policy. Her work traces India’s Smart Cities Mission, maps diverse advisory ecosystems, and shares India's and Belgium’s municipal experience. She spoke on how consultants shape governance, regulation, and local government capacity. This talk focuses on how consultants are hired, what they contribute, how they are perceived, and how this affects governance and institutions, especially at the local level. Using approaches from public management and public administration, she reflected on these questions in two very different contexts of India and Belgium, to understand both overlaps and specificities in the outsourcing of smart city governance.