The background for this study is a two-year smart city cluster project, called Ready for Smart Growth, which included various smart city projects in 22 municipalities. This study's novelty lies in the context of its analysis and theoretical contribution, which outline an identification of the complexity, advantages and barriers that smart city project managers perceived in an ongoing smart city cluster project. Further, a definition for a smart city project is suggested. This research is within a case study methodology, and was based on a mixed method approach that employed nine key informant interviews and two questionnaires. The results revealed that the project managers perceived different needs and goals within the context of smart city innovation and realization. The project managers perception of smart city was mainly within a smart economy and smart governance perspective. However, the project managers also criticized the relatively less focus on public participations and dialogue-oriented smart city solutions. The perceived major barriers to real smart city implementations were regulations; silos; and the choice of stakeholders, including companies promising too much. The major advantages include the different perspectives and types of knowledge of various stakeholders.

这项研究的背景是一个为期两年的智能城市集群项目，称为“为智能增长做好准备”，其中包括22个城市的各种智能城市项目。这项研究的新颖之处在于其分析和理论贡献，概述了对智能城市项目经理在进行中的智能城市集群项目中所感知的复杂性，优势和障碍的识别。此外，提出了智能城市项目的定义。这项研究是在个案研究方法论之内，并且是基于混合方法，该方法采用了九项主要的知情人访谈和两份问卷。结果表明，项目经理在智慧城市创新和实现的背景下意识到了不同的需求和目标。项目经理对智慧城市的看法主要是在智慧经济和智慧治理的角度内。但是，项目经理还批评相对较少地关注公众参与和面向对话的智慧城市解决方案。真正实现智慧城市的主要障碍是法规。筒仓 以及利益相关者的选择，其中包括那些许诺太多的公司。主要优点包括各种利益相关者的不同观点和知识类型。