Who’s smart? Whose city? The sociopolitics of urban intelligence

Abstract

Visions of the “smart city” are becoming reality, translated from the realm of concepts into actual urban space. Proponents of smart city technologies invoke their potential to free us from the drudgery of urban life and solve our environmental problems. But can “smart cities” save us? There has been long-standing resistance to the scientific, positivist basis for planning. What happens when intelligent plans encounter messy politics, social systems, and divergent scales of urban governance? This paper explores the promises of “smart cities” and their stated rationale, and grounds a review of theoretical paradigms with new empirical research in Singapore and London. I present two key findings: First, there is no one “smart city,” even within a city. Second, differences in scales and ideologies of urban governance across cities have significant impact on the way that actors frame their priorities and objectives around the role of urban technologies. Finally, I speculate on the ways that urban networked systems might enable and empower a transformative planning.