Responding to modern urban challenges will require a fundamental re-envisioning of urban engineering, management and leadership. Some technologists now argue that the 'smart city' could provide a transformative panacea for urban development. They argue that ubiquitous urban sensing, big data and analytics will help us to better understand the real time functioning of our cities, as well as inform longer term planning and policy decisions. They claim that smart grids will enable efficiency within our energy infrastructure and that intelligent transport systems will encourage multi-modal low carbon urban mobility. They say anywhere access to information through smartphones and mobile infrastructure will transform the way people use the city and will support the development of new products and services. However, the technological solutions are only one part of the answer and are interwoven within a complex investment environment. While technology companies are bombarding cities with opportunities to invest in state of the art technology, city councils are left wondering how and why they should invest. They are left to explore the economic return, the business models, the value that it brings to citizens and the role that they should play within an ecosystem of delivery partners and stake holders. They are left to decipher funding models, measurement and reporting regimes and the implications for their organisational structure, operational requirements and responsibilities. On top of this, they must understand how these investments align to existing local and national political priorities and strategies. This gap between technological solutions and investment models is perhaps not surprising. Leveraging state of the art technology to serve political, economic, social and environmental challenges is not straightforward in practice. But the urgency of the challenge requires city authorities to actively increase the pace of innovation. Drawing on the experience of cities in Britain and overseas, this thesis explores the challenges faced by city councils trying to implement smart city solutions. It devises a 'governance map' to illustrate the governance context within which investment decisions are made, and develops a practical framework to support city councils in addressing smart city challenges.