Smart Cities and Digital Governance

In this area, we study:

  • Smart city technology adoption
  • How smart city technologies affect citizen engagement & public service delivery

Lead Faculty:

Recent Projects:

A Socially Informed Electric Vehicle Promotion Framework for Rural Innovation towards Environmental, Social, and Economic Sustainability

Aug 2023–Jul 2026

This project aims to promote the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in rural communities to address environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Despite the federal government’s efforts to electrify transportation, rural areas have low EV usage and limited charging infrastructure. The project proposes a data-driven framework to understand barriers to rural EV adoption, predict charging demand, and design cost-efficient charging infrastructure. The interdisciplinary team will investigate drivers and barriers, predict charging demand, develop a decision-making tool, and provide training to stakeholders in the Florida Panhandle region. The ultimate goal is to enhance sustainability by facilitating EV adoption in rural communities.

Funded by Florida State University. Total award $150,000.

Principal investigator:

Smart & Sustainable Urban Infrastructure and Equity in Communities

Sep 2017–Aug 2022

S&CC-IRG Track 1: Connecting The Smart-City Paradigm With A Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Systems Framework To Advance Equity In Communities.

Principal investigator:

  • Shashi Shekhar
  • Anu Ramaswami
  • Venkatesh Merwade
  • Julian Marshall
  • Tian Tang

Funded by National Science Foundation. Total award $2,500,000.

Community Partners:

Metropolitan Council
City of Minneapolis
City of Tallahassee
ICLEI

PUBLICATIONS:

  1. Lee, H. (2022). Public Service Delivery on Mobile Apps: Factors of Diversification and Coproduction. International Journal of Public Administration, 1-13.
  2. Gao, X., Canfield, C., Tang, T., Hill, H., Higman, M., & Cornwell, J. (2022). Encouraging Voluntary Government Action via a Solar-Friendly Designation Program to Promote Solar Energy in the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(11).
  3. Tong, K., Ramaswami, A., Xu, C. K., Feiock, R., Schmitz, P., & Ohlsen, M. (2021). Measuring social equity in urban energy use and interventions using fine-scale data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(24).
  4. Annis, C., Hou, J., & Tang, T. (2021). Perceptions, motivators, and barriers of using city management applications among citizens: a focus group approach. Information Technology & People. doi:10.1108/ITP-03-2020-0148
  5. Xu, K., & Tang, T. (2020). Closing the Gap or Widening the Divide: The Impacts of Technology-Enabled Coproduction on Equity in Public Service Delivery. Public Administration Review, 80(6), 962-975. doi:10.1111/puar.13222