Making a City Smarter through Information Integration: Angel Network and the Role of Political Leadership

Abstract

Scholars and practitioners around the world are increasingly using terms such as smart cities and smart governments. The essence of becoming smarter seems to be related to connectedness, responsiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. Therefore, by integrating their most important information and services, cities can achieve some of the goals and objectives extensively identified with smartness. This paper aims to show that despite important challenges, information integration initiatives can be implemented with relatively good results if there is enough political support from top government executives. We conducted semi-structured interviews with government managers responsible for the Angel Network (AN) system, which attempts to integrate key information about social programs in Mexico City. This work offers insights on how the support of the mayor can significantly influence the implementation of an information integration strategy in at least three different ways: (1) the creation of an adequate institutional framework, (2) the alignment of diverse political interests within the city administration, and (3) the increase of financial resources.