Knowledge Agora



Scientific Article details

Title Roadmaps to utopia: Tales of the smart city
ID_Doc 37080
Authors Valdez, AM; Cook, M; Potter, S
Title Roadmaps to utopia: Tales of the smart city
Year 2018
Published Urban Studies, 55.0, 15
DOI 10.1177/0042098017747857
Abstract Notions of the smart city are pervasive in urban development discourses. Various frameworks for the development of smart cities, often conceptualised 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 idealised 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 optimisation of urban flows have potential for empowering or disempowering different actors. Roadmaps tend to emphasise 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, mobilising 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.
Author Keywords governance; smart transport; technology; smart cities; transport
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000447513300007
WoS Category Environmental Studies; Urban Studies
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Urban Studies
PDF https://oro.open.ac.uk/52586/1/2017%2011%2022%20Urban%20Studies%20PDF_Proof.PDF
Similar atricles
Scroll