Humans in the Loop: The Clash of Concepts in Digital Sustainability in Smart Cities

Abstract

The underlying concepts, values and respective requirements for governance in digital ecosystems and socio-economic systems are considered. Sustainability in ecosystems is discussed as a central notion to illustrate the clash of concepts and to show patterns that connect or separate the digital and the sustainable worlds. Cities and the transition of cities into so-called smart cities exemplify the problem of sustainability and governance. The example of the city as a living lab illustrates the limits of digital control and sheds light on the need for a new generation of system controls that identify and mitigate the rifts, the fears and the unexpected in the process of integration and innovation in socio-economic systems. The study is based on complexity sciences such as cybernetics and on system theory and constructivism in the social sciences in order to embrace fully the problem of social behavior in digital systems.