Breaking Down the Silos: Smart City Development. Case for Warsaw, Poland.

The concept of "smart cities" has gained traction as urban centers increasingly adopt advanced technologies to enhance the quality of life, efficiency, and sustainability. However, despite the promise of technological integration, a significant challenge persists: the management of smart city initiatives is often fragmented due to departmental silos. These silos, where information and functions are compartmentalized within individual sectors (e.g., transportation, energy, health), limit collaboration and impede holistic problem-solving.

Drawing on Warsaw case study, the paper will explore how these silos emerge from traditional bureaucratic structures that resist the cross-departmental collaboration and sharing of data and resources, hindering the overarching goals of smart cities.

In the paper I will focus particularly on how establishing smart city agency interrupts existing power structures and relation between institutions within the city administration. Despite promise of “interoperability and cost optimization” the process of consolidation forced by the smart city policy can lead to much lower the level of efficiency, increase the administrative burden and bring less transparent policy of each department. Moreover, the paper I will argue that not every project od digitalization are “fit” to the idea of smart city governance.

The findings aim to contribute to the broader sociological understanding of urban governance and emphasize the importance of addressing structural barriers in smart city management to achieve truly intelligent urban environments.