Network Northamptonshire: total transport smart city procurement theoretical framework for sustainable economic and social change

Culture, governance and procurement remains under researched in current academic literature within a smart city transportation context, with evidence suggesting that procurement is a much needed aspect of bringing about change at local government level, however little evidence exists to support this. This paper showcases the research based upon the ‘Network Northamptonshire’ total transport project, whereby a review of the county’s transportation both public and private is being undertaken in order to gain greater economies of scale across a shared cross border knowledge exchange in the UK. The research team have through the process of ‘Network Northamptonshire’ identified and created a theoretical framework ‘total transport smart city procurement’ that brings together much needed elements of peer reviewed research that purport success in the delivery of the smart city concept, allied to identifying gaps in literature relating to best in class business practice that could in tandem to ‘Network Northamptonshire’ transportation network deliver a horizontally aligned network of private, public and voluntary bodies allied to a sustainable solution that eradicates challenges associated to culture, governance and procurement to deliver economic and social good. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that there is a disconnect between the ideals of the smart city and actual development needs, having identified that purported risks such as population movements to areas of low to high technology can actually be leveraged as an asset in sustainable development. Therefore, the authors support the need for further research in the area of smart cities connection to culture, governance and procurement through the framework in order to convey the wider European smart city concept and continue the sharing of best practice to bring about economic and socially connected conurbations.