Routledge Citizens in the 'Smart City': Participation, Co-production, Governance (Routledge Studies in Urbanism and the City)

This book critically examines 'smart city' discourse in terms of governance initiatives, citizen participation and policies which place emphasis on the 'citizen' as an active recipient and co-producer of technological solutions to urban problems. The current hype around smart cities and digital technologies has sparked debates in the fields of citizenship, urban studies and planning surrounding the rights and ethics of participation. It also sparked debates around the forms of governance these technologies actively foster. This book presents new socio-technological systems of governance that monitor citizen power, trust-building strategies, and social capital. It calls for new data economics and digital rights for a city founded on normative ideals rather than neoliberal ones. It adopts a normative approach arguing that a 'reloaded' smart city should foster citizenship as a new set of civil and social rights and the 'citizen' as a subject vested with active and meaningful forms of participation and political power. Ultimately, the book questions the utility of the 'smart city' project for radical municipalism, proposing a technological enough but more democratic city, an 'intelligent city' in fact. Offering useful contribution to smart city initiatives for the protection of emerging digital citizenship rights and socially accrued benefits, this book will draw the interest of researchers, policymakers, and professionals in the fields of urban studies, urban planning, urban geography, computing and technology studies, urban politics and urban economics. Review "Through a theoretically rich and empirically grounded account, this book sets out how the technocratic and neoliberal smart city raises serious concerns with respect to citizenship and democracy and importantly how these can be challenged and re-envisioned. A vital read for policy makers and scholars interested in creating fairer, more just and intelligent cities." - Rob Kitchin, Professor of Geography, Maynooth University, Ireland "This inventive and realistic book transcends the poles of doom or boom that often characterise the smart city debate to offer clear-sighted and thoughtful evidence from experience and research. Paolo Cardullo has wise advice for those thinking about and working on urban technologies." - Matthew Fuller, Professor of Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom "Smart city thinking proved to be pervasive, invasive, ubiquitous: it is colonising urban debates, it is reshaping utopian and dystopian imaginaries of the cities of tomorrow, and it is changing the way we experience urban life and citizenship. Paolo Cardullo's book builds a solid counter-narrative, one that challenges conventional and celebrative understandings of smartness and technology, and one that helps in figuring out 'smart' alternatives. A definitive read for those searching for critical thinking about technology, politics and the city." - Professor Alberto Vanolo, Università degli Studi di Torino, Dipartimento Culture, Politica e Società Department, Italy "This is one of those few books on smart cities that critically question hyperbole and fashionable trends whilst managing to propose practical ways forward towards the public good. Whether it is smart 'solutions', or the Living Labs mantra, Cardullo explores agendas and discourses in depth, with a constructive attention to what makes participation meaningful, and co-production of 'smart' real and relevant. Through looking at a series of international approaches, and the depth of a European case study, this volume constructively engages with policy-making for smart - or 'intelligent' as the author envisages - cities that really work for people." - Alessandro Aurigi, Professor of Urban Design, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom "Paolo Cardullo's book is the result of several years of research on the complexity of problems posed by the 'smart city'. The book will