Around the world, cities are embracing digital technologies to improve mobility, service delivery, urban planning, and citizen engagement. Yet many “smart city” initiatives place technology at the center, rather than people. Sensors, platforms, and dashboards proliferate, while questions of inclusion, accountability, and democratic governance remain secondary. If decentralization is “the empowerment of people through the empowerment of their local governments”, then this must be reflected in the way that technology is applied by local governments.
The recently released playbook by UN‑Habitat, A Step-by-Step Guide for a People-Centred Smart City Strategy, reframes smart cities not as technology projects, but as governance reforms—deeply embedded in local institutions, community participation, and multilevel coordination. The guide introduces a five-phase methodology, from laying institutional foundations to monitoring and evaluation of a smart city strategy, supported by tools, templates, and global case studies.
For practitioners working on decentralization and local governance, this shift is more than semantic. It speaks directly to long-standing concerns about how digital transformation can either strengthen or undermine local democracy.
From smart technologies to smart governance
A central contribution of the UN-Habitat playbook is its insistence that smart city strategies must begin with people’s needs and local priorities, not with off-the-shelf technologies. Rather than asking “Which technologies should we adopt?”, the guide encourages governments to ask “Which urban challenges matter most to residents, and how can digital tools help address them?”
The playbook presents a structured, step-by-step approach that helps governments move from vision to implementation. It emphasizes institutional readiness, stakeholder engagement, policy alignment, and monitoring—recognizing that many cities struggle not with innovation, but with capacity, coordination, and continuity.
This approach is especially relevant in decentralized systems, where local governments often have responsibility for service delivery but limited control over digital standards, financing, or data governance. By positioning smart city strategies as part of broader urban and territorial planning processes, the playbook helps local governments avoid fragmented pilot projects and instead pursue coherent, long-term digital transformation.
A people-centered lens on equity, rights, and inclusion
What clearly distinguishes this guide from more technocratic smart city manuals is its explicit people-centered orientation. The playbook highlights participation, inclusion, and human rights as foundational principles, not optional add-ons.
The step-by-step guide emphasizes community participation, digital human rights, equity, sustainability, and resilience while addressing key enabling conditions such as governance, digital public infrastructure, budgeting, and digital literacy. The playbook helps cities navigate challenges such as limited capacity, outdated procurement, financing constraints, interoperability issues, and cultural resistance, offering actionable recommendations to build inclusive, ethical, and future-ready urban digital ecosystems.
For decentralization practitioners, this resonates strongly with debates about fiscal equity, representation, and accountability. A people-centered smart city strategy reinforces the idea that local governments are custodians of the public interest, even as they partner with private technology providers or national agencies.
Strengthening multilevel governance through digital strategies
Another important strength of the playbook is its explicit attention to multilevel governance. Smart city initiatives rarely fall neatly within one level of government. National frameworks may set standards or fund infrastructure; regional bodies may coordinate across metropolitan areas; while local governments remain closest to citizens and service delivery.
The guide acknowledges these interdependencies and encourages clearer role definition, coordination mechanisms, and alignment across levels. This is particularly valuable for countries where decentralization reforms are still evolving and where digital initiatives risk recentralization through data control or platform monopolies.
By framing smart city strategies as shared governance efforts rather than isolated municipal projects, the playbook supports a more balanced distribution of responsibilities and capabilities across government levels.
Beyond “smart”: toward democratic digital cities
Ultimately, the relevance of the UN-Habitat playbook lies in its normative ambition. It challenges cities to move beyond narrow definitions of “smartness” based on efficiency or technological sophistication, and toward cities that are digitally enabled, socially inclusive, and democratically governed.
For the decentralization community, this is a welcome contribution. It aligns digital transformation with long-standing principles of subsidiarity, participation, and local accountability. Smart cities, the playbook reminds us, should not only be connected and data-driven—they should be people-centered, place-based, and governed in the public interest.
Access the full report “A Step-by-Step Guide for a People-Centred Smart City Strategy: A Playbook for National, Regional, and Local Governments” on UN-Habitat’s website.
Note: The Feature Image of the blog post was prepared with the help of AI.
