| Title |
(D)evolving smartness: exploring the changing modalities of smart city making in Africa |
| ID_Doc |
36014 |
| Authors |
Boyle, L; Harlow, J; Keeler, LW |
| Title |
(D)evolving smartness: exploring the changing modalities of smart city making in Africa |
| Year |
2024 |
| Published |
Urban Geography, 45, 4 |
| DOI |
10.1080/02723638.2023.2213035 |
| Abstract |
The paper identifies an under-researched mode of smart city-making in Africa characterized by municipal deployments of ICT-driven innovations. This departs from typical framings that view African smart city development as nationally driven, master planned new city developments. An in-depth analysis of the City of Cape Town's Digital City Strategy provides insights into the mechanisms and processes grounding smart city concepts in African municipalities. Thus, situating Africa's municipal ICT-driven strategies in the context of a global discourse of smart urbanism and local (and continental) processes of decentralized governance reform. In Cape Town, these global and local forces converge to drive ICT-inspired urbanism that reinforce market-oriented logics of urban governance, largely at the expense of transformative and contextually sensitive ICT deployments. By highlighting the multi-scalar production of smart cities inspired by global discourse yet subjected to local dynamics, the findings offer insights into the political realities of municipal ICT deployments in Africa. |
| Author Keywords |
Smart city development; ICT-driven urbanism; decentralization; municipal governance reform; Africa |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000989856800001 |
| WoS Category |
Geography; Urban Studies |
| Research Area |
Geography; Urban Studies |
| PDF |
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