Roadmaps to Utopia: Tales of the Smart City

Notions of the Smart City are pervasive in urban development discourses. Various frameworks for the development of smart cities, often conceptualized as roadmaps, make a number of implicit claims about how smart city projects proceed but the legitimacy of those claims is unclear. This paper begins to address this gap in knowledge. We explore the development of a smart transport application, MotionMap, in the context of a £16M smart city programme taking place in Milton Keynes, UK. We examine how the idealized smart city narrative was locally inflected, and discuss the differences between the narrative and the processes and outcomes observed in Milton Keynes. The research shows that the vision of data-driven efficiency outlined in the roadmaps is not universally compelling, and that different approaches to the sensing and optimization of urban flows have potential for empowering or disempowering different actors. Roadmaps tend to emphasize the importance of delivering quick practical results. However, the benefits observed in Milton Keynes did not come from quick technical fixes but from a smart city narrative that reinforced existing city branding, mobilizing a growing network of actors towards the development of a smart region. Further research is needed to investigate this and other smart city developments, the significance of different smart city narratives, and how power relationships are reinforced and constructed through them

The “Smart City” between Urban Narrative and Empty Signifier: Shaggar in Focus

The objective of this study is to critically analyze the concept of the “Smart City” and its implications within the context of Shaggar. The study aims to explore the relationship between urban narratives and the empty signifiers associated with the “Smart City” concept, with a focus on understanding the underlying tensions and contradictions that arise during the implementation of smart urban initiatives. This study employs a qualitative research approach, utilizing a combination of document analysis, interviews, and observation techniques. Primary and secondary data sources, including official city plans, policy documents, media reports, and expert interviews, are used to gather information and insights. Thematic analysis is employed to identify recurring patterns and themes related to the “Smart City” concept, urban narratives, and empty signifiers in Shaggar. The findings of this study reveal that the “Smart City” concept in Shaggar is shaped by multiple urban narratives, including the discourse of technological progress, sustainability, and efficiency. However, the analysis also highlights the presence of empty signifiers, where the “Smart City” concept often lacks clear definitions, goals, and tangible outcomes. This disconnects between narratives and signifiers create tensions and challenges during the implementation of smart urban initiatives in Shaggar. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the “Smart City” concept in Shaggar is a complex amalgamation of urban narratives and empty signifiers. The presence of multiple narratives contributes to the allure and promise of the “Smart City” vision, while the lack of clear signifiers results in ambiguity and challenges during implementation. This study underscores the need for critical examination and contextual understanding when envisioning and implementing “Smart City” initiatives. Based on the findings, this study recommends that policymakers, urban planners, and stakeholders in Shaggar and similar contexts should prioritize the development of clear and context-specific definitions, goals, and metrics for “Smart City” initiatives. It is crucial to engage with local communities, incorporate their perspectives, and ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation process. Furthermore, interdisciplinary collaborations and continuous evaluation of projects are essential to address the tensions between narratives and signifiers and to promote more inclusive and sustainable smart urban development in Shaggar and beyond

The agency and geography of socio-technical transitions: the case of urban transport innovations

The objective of this cumulative thesis is to gain deeper insights into the interplay of agency and structure through the empirical example of emerging technologies in the context of Industry 4.0. To achieve this goal, it enriches the theoretical background from evolutionary economic geography with insights from transition studies and management studies. Empirically, the analysis focuses on novelty creation toward intelligent transport systems in an urban environment. This encompasses software solutions such as big data platforms for traffic management, the Internet of Things to create a network of various objects and subjects within the city, or the development of autonomous vehicles. This thesis formulates four overarching research purposes: (1) comprehending socio-technical transitions during Industry 4.0 from an agency-based perspective; (2) understanding how agency facilitates or hinders innovation development; (3) identifying the impact of multi-scalar and cross-sectoral relations; and (4) integrating different theoretical approaches to gain a holistic understanding of the empirical domain. The thesis adopts a qualitative research design with a philosophical grounding in critical realism, drawing on semi-structured expert interviews, literature reviews, and document and network analysis. The main contribution of this thesis rests on four distinct research papers. A systematic literature review sets the conceptual basis for the analysis, identifying future research avenues based on the existing research body. The first case study analyzes the development of an app-based solution for managing urban logistics in Barcelona from a multi-level perspective. The other two case studies investigate the evolution of advanced air mobility in Germany and the city of Hamburg

Imagining the smart city through smart grids? Urban energy futures between technological experimentation and the imagined low-carbon city

Current imaginaries of urban smart grid technologies are painting attractive pictures of the kinds of energy futures that are desirable and attainable in cities. Making claims about the future city, the socio-technical imaginaries related to smart grid developments unfold the power to guide urban energy policymaking and implementation practices. This paper analyses how urban smart grid futures are being imagined and co-produced in the city of Berlin, Germany. It explores these imaginaries to show how the politics of Berlin’s urban energy transition are being driven by techno-optimistic visions of the city’s digital modernisation and its ambitions to become a ‘smart city’. The analysis is based on a discourse analysis of relevant urban policy and other documents, as well as interviews with key stakeholders from Berlin’s energy, ICT and urban development sectors, including key experts from three urban laboratories for smart grid development and implementation in the city. It identifies three dominant imaginaries that depict urban smart grid technologies as (a) environmental solution, (b) economic imperative and (c) exciting experimental challenge. The paper concludes that dominant imaginaries of smart grid technologies in the city are grounded in a techno-optimistic approach to urban development that are foreclosing more subtle alternatives or perhaps more radical change towards low-carbon energy systems

Performing Smartness Differently - Strategic Enactments of a Global Imaginary in Three European Cities

In the scholarly literature on smart city, normative and prescriptive approaches dominate. Most publications with analytic goals focus on transnational corporations, the related global imaginary of a smart city, and on associated new technologies. In comparison, actually existing smart cities have seldom been investigated. This is even more the case for public governance arrangements of smart city policies. Our study compares three EU cities in this regard, which are attempting to take a lead in smart city development. In addition, urban agriculture and citizens' participation are specifically investigated in their relation to smart city policy-making. Based on policy document and media discourse analysis, interviews, and participant observation, three governance arrangements of smart city policies are identified: hierarchical governance by the government in Barcelona between 2011 and 2015, closed co-governance by the city executive and non-governmental actors in Vienna and since 2015 in Barcelona, and open co-governance in Berlin. Citizens' participation is in the center in Barcelona since 2015, and is potentially important in Berlin. The Viennese smart city governance arrangement is characterized by non-hierarchical bargaining within the administration and signals innovative meta-governance, without citizens' participation. In all three cities, international dynamics play a crucial role for engaging with smart city, but it is enacted in particular ways according to place-specific history, social forces, and economic and political conditions. The meaning of smart city varies thus considerably: a comprehensive urban sustainability strategy focused upon climate policy goals in Vienna; a comprehensive internationalization strategy in Barcelona between 2011 and 2015; a limited technology- and business-oriented approach in Berlin; and a limited digital city frame geared to participatory democracy and technological sovereignty in Barcelona since 2015. Contrary to the literature, we highlight the agency of city executives, and the place-specific enactments that global smart city imaginaries undergo. Current smart city policies express more continuity than rupture with regard to urban development policies in our case study cities.Series: SRE - Discussion Paper

AVENUE21. Connected and Automated Driving: Prospects for Urban Europe

This open access publication examines the impact of connected and automated vehicles on the European city and the conditions that can enable this technology to make a positive contribution to urban development. The authors argue for two theses that have thus far received little attention in scientific discourse: as connected and automated vehicles will not be ready for use in all parts of the city for a long time, previously assumed effects – from traffic safety to traffic performance as well as spatial effects – will need to be re-evaluated. To ensure this technology has a positive impact on the mobility of the future, transport and settlement policy regulations must be adapted and further developed. Established territorial, institutional and organizational boundaries must be investigated and challenged quickly. Despite – or, indeed, because of – the many uncertainties, we find ourselves at the beginning of a new design phase, not only in terms of technology development, but also regarding politics, urban planning, administration and civil society

Rethinking engagement in urban design: reimagining the value of co-design and participation at every stage of planning for autonomous vehicles.

The practical demonstrations and research which led to the preparation of this paper involved a combination of stakeholder engagement, policy debate and the practical demonstration and testing of autonomous vehicles. By adhering to a design approach which in centred on participation and human-centred engagement, the advent of autonomous vehicles might avoid many of the problems encountered in relation to conventional transport. The research explored how a new and potentially disruptive technology might be incorporated in urban settings, through the lens of participation and problem-based design. The research critically reviews key strands in the literature (autonomous vehicles, social research and participatory design), with allusion to current case study experiments. Although there are numerous examples of autonomous vehicles (AV) research concentrating on technical aspects alone, this paper finds that such an approach appears to be an unusual starting point for the design of innovative technology. That is, AVs would appear to hold the potential to be genuinely disruptive in terms of innovation, yet the way that disruption takes place should surely be guided by design principles and by issues and problems encountered by potential users. Practical implications: The research carries significant implications for practice in that it advocates locating those socio-contextual issues at the heart of the problem definition and design process and ahead of technical solutions. What sets this research apart from other studies concerning AVs was that the starting point for investigation was the framing of AVs within contexts and scenarios leading to the emergence of wicked problems. This begins with a research position where the potential uses for AVs are considered in a social context, within which the problems and issues to be solved become the starting point for design at a fundamental level