A master programme thesis from Aalborg University
Scaling Smart City Projects in Denmark: Challenges and Strategic Recommendations
Author(s)
Term
4. Term
Publication year
2025
Submitted on
2025-05-28
Pages
93 pages
Abstract
Cities around the world are pursuing smart city strategies to enhance urban resilience, sustainability and quality of life. This is due to the digital transformation, the increasing threat of climate change and urbanisation. Smart cities emerge as a complex concept and show difficulties in implementation, maintenance and scaling smart city projects among Danish municipalities. Even though Denmark is known for being one of the leaders in digital innovation, many projects remain in the pilot stage due to institutional, political, and organisational obstacles. Municipal capacities and governance frameworks affect whether smart city development in Danish municipalities is successful or stagnates. This thesis examines how innovation diffusion, multi-level governance and institutional constraints shape the landscape of smart city implementation. Additionally, it uses a mixed-methods approach that includes a literature review, document analysis, mapping, stakeholder interviews, a survey and an Aarhus case study. The results point to several enduring issues, such as disjointed governance, pilot project fatigue, also known as "pilot sickness", etc. Concerns about data governance, public trust, and the unequal distribution of digital infrastructure exacerbate these problems. The thesis identifies factors and approaches, such as effective stakeholder collaboration and adaptive governance models, that have allowed certain municipalities to achieve notable advancements despite these obstacles. The advantages of flexible innovation ecosystems and community-driven smart city planning are particularly demonstrated by the example of Aarhus. The thesis ends with strategic recommendations meant to improve inter-municipal cooperation, strengthen institutional frameworks and advance scalable, citizen-centred smart city solutions. The thesis advances the knowledge of how Danish municipalities can move forward from disjointed pilot projects to more integrated urban strategies by bridging theory and practice.
Keywords
Documents
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