The development of smart local energy systems (SLESs) risks exacerbating pre-existing disparities, because socioeconomically disadvantaged groups cannot participate in SLESs and therefore miss out on the benefits (Knox et al., 2022; Smith et al., 2023). This widening gap between ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of the energy transition is extensively documented in energy justice (EJ) literature (Jenkins et al., 2021). Addressing this gap is challenging, primarily because justice considerations are easily overlooked, misunderstood, or sidelined in decision-making processes (Van der Wel et al., 2024). However, even when energy justice is considered and prioritized, decision-makers may struggle to effectively safeguard it. That is due to the lack of clear action perspectives on how to ensure energy justice, a concern echoed in both literature on energy justice (Santos Ayllon & Jenkins, 2022) and SLESs (Knox et al., 2022). To address this gap, we propose a framework of governance strategies based on public values theory. The framework outlines a rowing, steering, and anchoring strategy, along with their respective strengths and weaknesses in terms of safeguarding energy justice. Through analyzing two 'typical' cases for each strategy, we validate these theoretical strengths and weaknesses in practice. For decision-makers aiming to safeguard energy justice in the development of SLES, our validated framework offers guidance and highlights the importance of humility, recognizing that while various strategies can be employed, none of them offers a silver bullet.

Public services face complex, multi-level challenges, high levels of individualism, and diverse information. Additionally, there has been a growing need to respond to the difficulty of demarcating boundaries between areas of governance and to the complexity experienced in Public Administration, which translates into wicked problems. More systemic, holistic, and horizontal governance approaches, such as Network Governance, have emerged in this context. Network Governance focuses on coordination processes between interdependent actors who share common interests to solve complex public problems.

The practical application of these new arrangements is particularly relevant in the ongoing efforts of Public Administration to implement specific measures related to Open Administration. Open Administration has gained importance in the last decade due to administrative reforms aimed at breaking down the silos and boundaries between public administration services and focusing on sharing data, services, and decision-making processes.

This study aims to understand how network arrangements can contribute to developing Open Government commitments. We will investigate the National Open Government Network, established in Portugal to implement the Open Administration principles promoted by the international Open Government Partnership (OGP). We will explore the aspects of the intermediate outcomes that support participants in creating an environment conducive to achieving the main objectives. Key intermediate outcomes include legitimacy, trust, and the learning participants gain during their involvement. We aim to examine the aspects already completed by the network and recommend ways to enhance these intermediate outcomes.

To achieve this, we collected documentary information about the Network and interviewed its prominent representative members, analysing it for content analysis.

We believe that the institutional arrangement manifested in this Network has contributed to the participants’ internal commitment to the Network's purpose. However, we suggest some recommendations for improving the collaborative process in implementing the commitments, strengthening external legitimacy, and achieving higher levels of learning within the Network. This demonstrates that networks related to open government face specific challenges that require the attention of the public sector.

The paper presents the conceptualisation of a multi-attribute decision support model for measuring smart public governance maturity. This is achieved based on a systematic literature review of Web of Science and Scopus records. The smart public governance attributes (criteria) identified from these two sources are integrated into a decision support model, thus setting the layout of a multi-attribute decision support model (a practical tool) for the assessment of smart public governance maturity. The final model conceptualized here consists of 32 attributes or criteria grouped into four categories: ICT-enabled governance innovation in the public sector, inter-organisational changes, changes in citizen-government interaction, and outcome–public value creation.

Keywords: attributes (criteria); decision support model; public administration institutions; maturity; smart public governance

Bringing citizens closer to public administration is a goal that has been assumed in government discourse, although it is debatable whether this has been achieved in the practices adopted by public organisations. How to make it feasible for organisations with structures marked by the bureaucratic model to be able to practice empathy and good relations with the citizens who use them is currently a problem that has been investigated (Edlins, 2021; Burnier, 2021; Gaido, 2020; Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann, & Melin, 2019). With the COVID-19 pandemic, entry into many public organisations has been restricted, and it has been necessary to resort to teleworking (Madureira & Rando, 2022) to ensure the provision of services to citizens by telephone or online platforms. During this period, the physical presence of services was limited, and some were only available remotely using official electronic platforms. Despite the advantages that can be identified in using electronic means to interact with citizens and the constraints that prevented unrestricted face-to-face service, it cannot be ignored that the use of technology involves socio-economic and knowledge inequalities that should have been considered (Gaido, 2020).

Although several studies show that the elderly population is increasingly using digital technologies and point to the positive effects of this use (Sixsmith, Horst, Simeonov, & Mihailidis, 2022; Neves & Mead, 2021), the lack of digital skills is also well known (Neves & Mead, 2021). In Portugal, older people tend to use digital technologies less frequently than younger age groups, particularly for internet and e-commerce (INE, 2022). This paper investigates how the elderly access public services through digital technologies, presenting the findings of an exploratory qualitative study. The main aim is to understand the challenges faced by individuals over 65 in accessing public services that require digital technologies, as well as how these challenges were addressed, interviewing elderly citizens available to participating.

The results obtained in the interviews highlight the difficulties experienced by this population in accessing public services using digital technologies, particularly during the pandemic. However, some services continued to operate by prior appointment for face-to-face attendance, which jeopardizes citizens' right to free and direct access to public administration services, which is expressly guaranteed in the Constitution. This situation has given rise to a government directive to public services that they must ensure that at least 50 per cent of services to the public are provided without the need for a prior appointment. Less informed about the guidelines given to public organizations, older people nevertheless continue to experience greater difficulties in accessing public services. The results obtained make it possible to put forward suggestions to reduce the inequalities experienced by older people because of the use of digital technologies.