This project’s objective is to comprehensively study the governance structures and proc-esses for a smart city development in small and medium sized cities for a selected set of energy related intervention fields. Urban governance includes all coordination and steering activities. Elaborating analyses from an energy-related planning perspective included the research concerning the aim of activities or the importance of different fields of activity within the range of implementation by municipalities and cities. From an institutional perspective, the project is particularly concerned with competency domains, policy instruments and re-source allocation etc. From actor-centred and process oriented perspective, we are particu-larly interested on actors, their perception of problems, their interests, behavioural logics and orientations, actor coalitions as well as bargaining and decision making processes as well as communication activities.