Guiding Principles of the Contemporary City

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT), awareness of climate change, the widening of economic and socio-spatial gaps and globalization, have triggered the development of new theories and principles of the city. Thus appear the city of information, knowledge, the smart city, the sustainable city, and theories of the current city which is not framed of any of the above. These theories are cause and effect of cities that are built under these names, supported by global agreements and networks that follow their development. This study aims to identify the principles that from the various theories contribute to the construction of the contemporary city, the objective being to identify and define the principles that sustain the contemporary city, separating them from the actors and interests that could be taking over one or another concept and aligning itself with the valuation of the city as a product at the service of the Society as a whole. A review of the state of the art is made, with a bibliometric exploratory phase supported by the Vosviewer software and another qualitative phase reviewing (29) articles published in the journals with the greatest impact according to Scimago rank. The results show that many principles overlap, while some components less treated at a general level should be strengthened, revealing the possibility of channeling and joining forces. This work makes it possible to advance in the analysis of a city that responds to current challenges, and channels the advances developed from the various areas. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.