Legal aspects and perceptions on strategies for smart and creative cities: study of the municipality of Chapecó (SC)

Abstract The Brazilian cities have undergone an economic development boost from the intensification of the globalization process that contributed to pulverization of economic activities beyond the large urban centers. The municipality of Chapecó, Santa Catarina state, a regional hub that has an urban network centered on small municipalities, is included in this context. Under the perspective of dynamization of economic activities, the objective of this study was to verify the legal aspects and the point of view of leaderships on the perspective of formation of a smart and creative city. The contributions of the present study are associated with analysis of the formation process of Chapecó as a smart and creative city. This qualitative case study included analysis of municipal legal documents combined with content analysis of interviews with community leaders and of local entities. The results showed that Chapecó presents guidelines for creating a smart and creative city; however, the transition to this type of city is embryonic, and structural, cultural, social, economic, institutional and environmental demands still need to be met.