Explaining the challenges of smart governance in urban waste management with the approach of analyzing the mutual behaviors of actors

Abstract

In recent years, urban waste management has transitioned from a simple administrative process to a complex socio-technological system, the success of which depends above all on the quality of interactions between actors. The main objective of this research is to explain the challenges of smart governance in urban waste management by focusing on the analysis of the mutual behaviors of stakeholders. This research is fundamental-applied in terms of its purpose and qualitative in terms of its implementation method with an interpretative-exploratory approach. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 key experts and actors in the field of waste management who were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods. Data analysis was conducted in two stages: "theme analysis" to identify challenges and "interpretive structural modeling (ISM)" to explain the hierarchical relationships between them. The findings of the theme analysis led to the identification of 5 overarching themes, 15 organizing themes, and 75 basic themes. The results of structural modeling showed that smart governance challenges are located at five hierarchical levels. “Institutional challenges” (including organizational incoherence and weak policy frameworks) are located at the lowest level of the model and are identified as the root and main driver of other problems. In contrast, “technological challenges” (such as technological formality and weak data-centricity) are located at the highest level, indicating that they are caused by institutional and behavioral factors. The results explain that weaknesses in institutional infrastructure prevent the realization of “interactive governance”, which in turn exacerbates “complexity of actor behavior” (conflict of interest and distrust) and “social constraints”. Ultimately, this causal chain leads to the ineffectiveness of smart tools at the city level. Accordingly, it is suggested that policymakers focus on reforming institutional structures and redefining relationships between formal and informal actors, rather than focusing solely on technical tools.