Blockchain in Smart Cities: A Bibliometric Analysis and Overview

Abstract

Since the 2000s, the interest around smart cities continues to grow due to the increasing digitalization, urbanization, and marketing of the smart city idea by tech companies. A central characteristic of smart cities is their use of digital technologies. One of these technologies that is increasingly applied in smart cities is the blockchain. Re-search on blockchain and how it is used within smart cities has grown significantly over the last years. Nowadays, research on blockchain in smart cities is a heterogeneous research field with contributions from many different disciplines. This paper therefore seeks to provide an analysis and overview of the emergent research field of the application of blockchain technology in smart cities. We do so by conducting a bibliometric analysis of research published between 2014 and 2021. As results, we give a thematic and bibliometric overview of this research field. This includes an overview of the past research on blockchain for smart cities, its key topics, and main areas of research. Furthermore, by giving an overview of potential future research questions, we aim to provide researchers with a platform for further developments within this field.