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Title The utopian logics of "Smart Stockholm": Visibility, predictability, and controllability
ID_Doc 39346
Authors Wullf-Wathne, M
Title The utopian logics of "Smart Stockholm": Visibility, predictability, and controllability
Year 2024
Published
DOI 10.1016/j.cities.2023.104784
Abstract What characterizes the ideal urban futures that are envisioned and promulgated within smart city initiatives today? This paper argues for the usefulness of utopia as a lens to examine contemporary urban development projects, specifically smart cities. Drawing on scholars upholding utopianism as key for critical scholarship, the paper explores narratives around smartness in Stockholm, Sweden, and the utopian logics embedded within these narratives. Based on an in-depth case study in Stockholm, the research points to utopian logics of visibility, predictability and controllability within smart city initiatives. These further point to a common tendency where planning is sought perfected-and believed to approach perfection through the supplantation of human planners by smart technologies. As urban planning is faced with pressing urban challenges and dwindling resources, "mere" brain capacity largely appears as too limited and as necessary to compliment with computerized intelligence.
Author Keywords Smart city; Utopia; Hope; Urban futures
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:001166232700001
WoS Category Urban Studies
Research Area Urban Studies
PDF https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104784
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