AUTHOR=Kumar Harish , Gupta Ashulekha , Singh Rajesh , Sayal Anu 

TITLE=Toward sustainable social change: strategic approaches to smart city development in developing nations

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Cities

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-cities/articles/10.3389/frsc.2025.1592534

DOI=10.3389/frsc.2025.1592534

ISSN=2624-9634

ABSTRACT=Planning, governing processes, and making decisions are crucial elements for any societal change and the development of an urban circular economy. The fight for urban resources, environmental sustainability, maintaining the urban ecosystem, promoting a circular economy, and fulfilling public service demands has put pressure on existing governments to increase their efficiency and collaborative abilities to work in a smarter way. This study aims to explore various enablers that can improve city administration for smart cities. The factors are identified from the literature. The study follows the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. The experts have been consulted for the finalization of factors and for the establishment of the causal relationships using the DEMATEL technique to study the cross-inter-relationship among factors. The findings suggest the rankings of factors and classify them into cause-and-effect groups. The study finds influencing enablers that improve policy implementation, e-services, transparency, monitoring, and control abilities for smart city administration. The development of smart cities facilitates an established, interconnected, and sustainable urban system for a circular economy. The policymakers, officials, service providers, and urban planners would get benefit from the outcomes to plan the right initiatives for improvements in governance structure for the development of the smart cities. Although there has been a widespread literature on factors for improving governance, cause-and-effect relationships have not been explored. This study proposes a strategic framework for smart city governance and sustainable social change.