Edinburgh Napier University’s Urban Innovation Policy Lab

We are smart city creators.

We study how AI systems and other digital technologies reshape urban life. Through research and consultancy work, we help public administrators and other urban development actors to introduce and govern these technologies to improve public services and support sustainable urban development.

Concept illustration of a civic-assistance robot and an autonomous shuttle on a city boulevard

Our approach

The smart city code

We focus on smart city governance. Our interdisciplinary approach brings urban studies and public policy together with engineering and technology management to study how cities make decisions about technology.

What technology can achieve depends on how cities govern its use. Governance determines whose needs guide the design of a service and who can revise it when it falls short. Those decisions shape the mutual adaptation of technology and urban life. The systems cities adopt change how people access services, and residents’ experiences can guide how those systems evolve.

Smart city governance

We study how local authorities organise digital change and sustain collaboration.

Responsible AI

We examine what public organisations need to govern AI systems responsibly.

Sustainable urban development

We look at how digital tools can support socioeconomic and environmental sustainability.

Elsevier · 2019

Untangling Smart Cities

From Utopian Dreams to Innovation Systems for a Technology-Enabled Urban Sustainability

Explore all projects

Horizon Europe

INUA

Reusing underused buildings and spaces through sufficiency-led regeneration.

£3,430,000 overall project value

Horizon Europe

URBAN-FLOW

Testing how digital twins and mobility data can improve public space and support climate-neutral travel.

£14,370,000 overall project value

Horizon Europe

INSPIRE

Developing and testing governance approaches through international staff exchanges and city pilots.

£1,458,000 overall project value

Our work over the past 10 years

200+ publications produced

£45 million+ research and consultancy funding that we contributed to generate

20+ research and consultancy projects completed