DIGITALIZATION AND SMART ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE: A SCIENCE MAPPING REVIEW OF POLICY INNOVATIONS AND PUBLIC VALUE CREATION

Abstract

The escalating complexity of global sustainability challenges demands a paradigmatic shift in public administration toward smart environmental governance. This science mapping review synthesizes the intellectual architecture, temporal trajectories, and conceptual density of scholarly literature surrounding digitalization and environmental policy across a ten-year publication corpus (2016-2026). Adhering to the PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines, 384 peer-reviewed journal articles were extracted from the Scopus database and analyzed using VOSviewer co-occurrence network, temporal overlay, and conceptual density mapping across 34 core terms within six interconnected thematic clusters. The findings indicate a significant structural evolution from early procedural e-government frameworks centered on administrative digitization toward predictive algorithmic governance, open data infrastructures, and spatial digital twins. Three dominant nodes (public value creation, policy innovation, and smart governance) function as the structural backbone of this multidisciplinary field. However, synthesized thematic analysis demonstrates that technological sophistication does not automatically yield sustainable ecological outcomes. Instead, public sector digitalization generates four systemic institutional frictions: algorithmic opacity versus predictive precision, private vendor dependence versus sovereign data governance, digital policy silos versus cross-sectoral integration, and digital exclusion versus inclusive ecological justice. To address these frictions, this study proposes an Integrated Tri-Pillar Conceptual Framework, asserting that digital environmental governance cannot be treated as a purely technical endeavor or automated tool. It represents a complex institutional negotiation that must reconcile analytical capabilities with public accountability, democratic legitimacy, and social equity to achieve enduring public value creation.