All Outputs (24)

Scaling to new heights: methodological insights for uplifting research on grassroots digital innovation (2025)
Journal Article
Gerli, P., Neves da Rocha, F., & Mora, L. (2025). Scaling to new heights: methodological insights for uplifting research on grassroots digital innovation. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, Article 126. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04320-7

The Covid-19 pandemic has further evidenced the potential of grassroots actors as initiators of digital innovations, in the form of open-source applications, platform cooperatives, and other crowdsourced digital artifacts. These innovations played a... Read More about Scaling to new heights: methodological insights for uplifting research on grassroots digital innovation.

World Smart Cities Outlook 2024 (2024)
Report
Gerli, P., Mora, L., Neves Da Rocha, F., & Nguyen, H. (2024). World Smart Cities Outlook 2024. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

The World Smart Cities Outlook 2024 provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of people-centred smart city development globally. Serving as a foundational reference for drafting the International Guidelines on People-Centred Smart Cities... Read More about World Smart Cities Outlook 2024.

Building a Good Digital Society from the Grassroots: Harnessing the Tradition of Community-led Initiatives in the Governance of Digital Services and Infrastructures (2024)
Report
Gerli, P. (2024). Building a Good Digital Society from the Grassroots: Harnessing the Tradition of Community-led Initiatives in the Governance of Digital Services and Infrastructures. British Academy

Over the past two decades, community broadband networks, platform cooperatives, and data cooperatives have emerged as promising models to counterbalance market distortions and power asymmetries in the governance of digital infrastructures, services a... Read More about Building a Good Digital Society from the Grassroots: Harnessing the Tradition of Community-led Initiatives in the Governance of Digital Services and Infrastructures.

Co‐constructing cooperative value ecosystems: A critical realist perspective (2024)
Journal Article
Zhang, J., Zamani, E. D., Gerli, P., & Mora, L. (online). Co‐constructing cooperative value ecosystems: A critical realist perspective. Information Systems Journal, https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12549

This study focuses on digital platform cooperatives (DPCs) and investigates how social value is created within platform cooperativism for fostering a more equitable and inclusive digital landscape. We explore and theorise the outcomes of social value... Read More about Co‐constructing cooperative value ecosystems: A critical realist perspective.

Breaking barriers for breaking ground: A categorisation of public sector challenges to smart city project implementation (2024)
Journal Article
Akgün, E. Z., Gerli, P., Mora, L., & McTigue, C. (online). Breaking barriers for breaking ground: A categorisation of public sector challenges to smart city project implementation. Public Policy and Administration, https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767241263233

Smart city technologies provide promising solutions for local governments to tackling societal challenges and enhancing public service provision. The global embrace of these digital innovations represents a new era in public sector advancements. Howe... Read More about Breaking barriers for breaking ground: A categorisation of public sector challenges to smart city project implementation.

Addressing inequalities in smart places: a primer for public administrations and third sector organisations (2024)
Report
Gerli, P., Ferreri, M., Lauri, C., Regalia, M., & Williams, A. (2024). Addressing inequalities in smart places: a primer for public administrations and third sector organisations. The British Academy, Accademia dei Lincei

Over the past 15 years, a variety of initiatives that claim to make places smarter have been launched at different geographic levels and scales, with smart cities and smart villages being just the most prominent examples of this phenomenon. Despite t... Read More about Addressing inequalities in smart places: a primer for public administrations and third sector organisations.

Affrontare le disuguaglianze negli smart places: una guida per le amministrazioni pubbliche e le organizzazioni del terzo settore (2024)
Report
Gerli, P., Ferreri, M., Lauri, C., Regalia, M., & Williams, A. (2024). Affrontare le disuguaglianze negli smart places: una guida per le amministrazioni pubbliche e le organizzazioni del terzo settore. The British Academy, Accademia dei Lincei

Negli ultimi 15 anni sono state lanciate, a diversi livelli geografici, una varietà di iniziative che puntano a promuovere lo sviluppo socio-economico attraverso l’implementazione di soluzioni tecnologiche innovative. Smart cities e smart villages so... Read More about Affrontare le disuguaglianze negli smart places: una guida per le amministrazioni pubbliche e le organizzazioni del terzo settore.

Friends or enemies? Unraveling niche-regime interactions in grassroots digital innovations (2024)
Journal Article
Gerli, P., Mora, L., Zhang, J., & Sancino, A. (2024). Friends or enemies? Unraveling niche-regime interactions in grassroots digital innovations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 202, Article 123342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123342

During the COVID-19 pandemic, grassroots digital innovations (GDIs) have gained traction as innovation niches, providing an alternative to the prevailing mainstream regime dominating smart city transitions. Drawing upon interviews with experts and pr... Read More about Friends or enemies? Unraveling niche-regime interactions in grassroots digital innovations.

Managing smart city governance: A playbook for local and regional governments (2023)
Report
Beckers, D., Gerli, P., Mora, L., Thabit, S., & Tonnarelli, F. (2023). Managing smart city governance: A playbook for local and regional governments. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

This playbook and its recommendations are primarily aimed at municipal governments and their political leaders, local administrators, and public officials who are involved in smart city initiatives. The recommendations, which are delineated in the su... Read More about Managing smart city governance: A playbook for local and regional governments.

Smart city governance from an innovation management perspective: Theoretical framing, review of current practices, and future research agenda (2023)
Journal Article
Mora, L., Gerli, P., Ardito, L., & Messeni Petruzzelli, A. (2023). Smart city governance from an innovation management perspective: Theoretical framing, review of current practices, and future research agenda. Technovation, 123, Article 102717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102717

Smart city transitions are a fast-proliferating example of urban innovation processes, and generating the insight required to support their unfolding should be a key priority for innovation scholars. However, after decades of research, governance mec... Read More about Smart city governance from an innovation management perspective: Theoretical framing, review of current practices, and future research agenda.

Global Review of Smart City Governance Practices (2022)
Report
Beckers, D., Gerli, P., Mora, L., Thabit, S., & Tonnarelli, F. (2022). Global Review of Smart City Governance Practices. Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Through smart city initiatives, digital technologies are increasingly applied in cities to modernize city operations and transform service delivery. The ongoing digital transformation provides new opportunities but also creates challenges, and it is... Read More about Global Review of Smart City Governance Practices.

Digital entrepreneurship in a rural context: the implications of the rural-urban digital divide (2022)
Book Chapter
Gerli, P., & Whalley, J. (2022). Digital entrepreneurship in a rural context: the implications of the rural-urban digital divide. In M. Keyhani, T. Kollmann, A. Ashjari, A. Sorgner, & C. Hull (Eds.), Handbook of Digital Entrepreneurship (291-305). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800373631.00026

Digital technologies are expected to encourage entrepreneurship by making it less spatially bounded, but there is increasing evidence that digital entrepreneurship remains geographically concentrated in a few locations. Drawing on interviews from Ita... Read More about Digital entrepreneurship in a rural context: the implications of the rural-urban digital divide.

The impact of Brexit on the digitisation of rural areas in the UK (2022)
Book Chapter
Gerli, P., & Whalley, J. (2022). The impact of Brexit on the digitisation of rural areas in the UK. In A. Attorp, S. Heron, & R. McAreavey (Eds.), Rural Governance in the UK (162-179). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003200208-9

This chapter discusses new policymaking scenarios in rural broadband and digital services that have opened now that the UK is no longer subject to the EU regulatory framework that has thus far driven rural digitisation. One advantage is that there ma... Read More about The impact of Brexit on the digitisation of rural areas in the UK.

The hidden power of emotions: How psychological factors influence skill development in smart technology adoption (2022)
Journal Article
Gerli, P., Clement, J., Esposito, G., Mora, L., & Crutzen, N. (2022). The hidden power of emotions: How psychological factors influence skill development in smart technology adoption. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 180, Article 121721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121721

Working within the theoretical framework set by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) literature, this paper clarifies how psychological factors (emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and information-seeking) affect skill development in the context of smart... Read More about The hidden power of emotions: How psychological factors influence skill development in smart technology adoption.

What makes a smart village smart? A review of the literature (2022)
Journal Article
Gerli, P., Navio Marco, J., & Whalley, J. (2022). What makes a smart village smart? A review of the literature. Transforming government: people, process and policy, 16(3), 292-304. https://doi.org/10.1108/tg-07-2021-0126

Smart villages (SVs) have lately attracted considerable attention, but what does the term mean? This literature review aims to explore its ambiguous nature and to identify main theoretical and practical aspects to be further explored in the conceptua... Read More about What makes a smart village smart? A review of the literature.

The Multilevel Governance of State Aid for Broadband Diffusion: Evidence from Three European Countries (2021)
Journal Article
Gerli, P., Navio-Marco, J., & Whalley, J. (2023). The Multilevel Governance of State Aid for Broadband Diffusion: Evidence from Three European Countries. International Journal of Public Administration, 46(3), 185-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2021.1993904

This paper explores multilevel governance (MLG) in the context of state aid programmes for the diffusion of broadband in the European Union. By comparing three EU Member States (Italy, Spain and the UK), the qualitative analysis illustrates how MLG a... Read More about The Multilevel Governance of State Aid for Broadband Diffusion: Evidence from Three European Countries.

Municipal 5G bans during the Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Italy (2021)
Journal Article
Gerli, P. (2021). Municipal 5G bans during the Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Italy. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, 23(6), 553-573. https://doi.org/10.1108/dprg-07-2020-0091

Purpose
Several sources have reported an increase in the opposition to the fifth-generation (5G) amongst local communities following the outbreak of Covid-19. In Italy, more than 300 municipalities banned 5G rollout from their territory between Apri... Read More about Municipal 5G bans during the Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Italy.

Fibre to the countryside: A comparison of public and community initiatives tackling the rural digital divide in the UK (2021)
Journal Article
Gerli, P., & Whalley, J. (2021). Fibre to the countryside: A comparison of public and community initiatives tackling the rural digital divide in the UK. Telecommunications Policy, 45(10), Article 102222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102222

Although digitisation offers numerous opportunities for rural areas, they still lag behind cities in terms of access and adoption of Internet-based services. This divide is the result of multiple market failures in both the demand and supply of broad... Read More about Fibre to the countryside: A comparison of public and community initiatives tackling the rural digital divide in the UK.

Beyond contact-tracing: The public value of eHealth application in a pandemic (2021)
Journal Article
Gerli, P., Arakpogun, E. O., Elsahn, Z., Olan, F., & Prime, K. S. (2021). Beyond contact-tracing: The public value of eHealth application in a pandemic. Government Information Quarterly, 38(3), Article 101581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2021.101581

This study adopts a public value perspective to examine the eHealth services deployed by national and regional governments to contain the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, including symptoms checkers, information portals and contact-tracing applicatio... Read More about Beyond contact-tracing: The public value of eHealth application in a pandemic.

The rising importance of the "Smart territory" concept: definition and implications (2020)
Journal Article
Navío-Marco, J., Rodrigo-Moya, B., & Gerli, P. (2020). The rising importance of the "Smart territory" concept: definition and implications. Land Use Policy, 99, Article 105003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105003

The “Smart territory” concept emerges strongly not only as an extension of the smart city concept but also in opposition to it. The “smartization” of cities can produce a digital gap in the territories, particularly in rural areas that do not have th... Read More about The rising importance of the "Smart territory" concept: definition and implications.