| dc.description.abstract | There has been a trend in city development for a little under a decade for cities to become “smart cities”, where recent innovations in technology such as big data processing, IoT, and AI are intended to transform the way cities work to become more efficient, more pleasant to live in, and have a better management of natural and human resources. As many cities rush to reap the benefits of this modern development, the need to discuss the possible consequences of this transformation of cities through technology, and how to implement the technology for it to have the desired effects has been pointed out in research surrounding smart cities. This thesis looks at whether applying a platform architecture to the infrastructure of cities can be beneficial when developing a city into a smart city, and if so, how. Information infrastructure theory and platform studies form the theoretical basis of the thesis; the former is a theoretical framework for large, complex information systems and the latter is the study of IT platforms such as Facebook, Google, and eBay. In addition, the cases of three companies working with smart city projects, as well as Oslo, the capital city of Norway with aspirations to become a smart city, has been studied through interviews and document analysis. The main conclusions are that firstly, a focus on the development of infrastructure is important in a city that wants to become smart because the infrastructure needs to be able to build up under the smart initiatives of the city. Secondly, that using a platform architecture on the infrastructure of a city can make the infrastructure more generative. Thirdly, that developing the infrastructure to be generative can help support innovation, and can answer some of the challenges that have been pointed out in smart city development in recent research. | eng |