Civic CrowdFunding: Sharing Economy Financial Opportunity to Smart Cities

This research aims at reckoning the advantages and criticalities concerning Civic CrowdFunding practical employment along with an evaluation of its actual implementation worldwide. Throughout a theoretical conceptualization of this phenomenon dynamics, we aim at analyzing roles and opportunities of Crowdfunding as a financial tool that helps to reduce local government budget deficits while also appeasing taxpayer’s expectations—in a positive cycle that involves basics of sharing economy for the pursuit of Smart Cities. To do so, this research will illustrate classical managerial and entrepreneurial theories that explain the CrowdFunding phenomenon, along with the opportunities and caveats that it entails, in particular the cultural and financial constraints that Civic CrowdFunding implementation might lead to. Indeed, CrowdFunding offers a wider base of potential equity investors, embracing non-professional individuals to invest in ventures that would not be possible otherwise—creating new financial offers and demands. The enlargement of financial possibilities offered by CrowdFunding partially compensates the augmented risk sensitivity from traditional credit institutions and professional investors with reference to equity capital investments—but it also entails new financial risks that shall be attentively evaluated.