From Infrastructure to Digital Skills: A Systematic Review of Digital Capability in Smart City Transformation

This registration documents the protocol of a systematic literature review examining how digital capability shapes smart city transformation beyond infrastructure-led perspectives. The review is grounded in the argument that smart city transformation should not be understood only as a technological or infrastructural shift, but also as a capability-driven process involving digital skills, workforce readiness, organizational and managerial capability, and governance capacity. The review addresses one central research question: How does digital capability shape smart city transformation beyond infrastructure-led perspectives? It further examines four related dimensions: (1) the role of digital skills, competencies, training, and workforce readiness; (2) the contribution of organizational and managerial capability; (3) the influence of governance capacity on implementation and sustainability; and (4) the recurring enablers and barriers identified across the literature. The review follows a PRISMA-based design and draws on structured searches conducted in Scopus and Web of Science. Records were screened through a staged process including deduplication, title and abstract screening, and full-text assessment. Screening, extraction, and appraisal were conducted independently by two reviewers. Data extraction focused on study context, study type, methods, smart city dimension, human capital or workforce concept, organizational or governance capability, capability–transformation link, key findings, and theoretical framing. The final synthesis is narrative and thematic in character. To strengthen methodological transparency, the included studies are appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). The protocol is registered in OSF using a generalized systematic review registration template in order to provide a transparent record of the review design, eligibility criteria, and analytical logic.