Designing data policy and governance for smart cities: theoretical essay using the IAD framework to analyze data-driven policy

Abstract This article examines data-driven policy for smart cities and how the institutional analysis and development framework (IAD) is a tool to analyze data governance and data policy design. The research assumes that data-driven policy underpins smart city initiatives and incorporates collective action dilemmas, directly impacting policy design and data governance. The article’s motivation is to examine the elements of the IAD framework and decompose the constitutive components of data policy in smart cities, obtaining principles that guide data governance in complex situations of digital transformation. The article is a theoretical essay to discuss data policy in smart cities and how policy design understands dilemmas and conflicts of collective action motivated by data control.