| Title |
#BlockSidewalkto Barcelona: Technological sovereignty and the social license to operate smart cities |
| ID_Doc |
44651 |
| Authors |
Mann, M; Mitchell, P; Foth, M; Anastasiu, I |
| Title |
#BlockSidewalkto Barcelona: Technological sovereignty and the social license to operate smart cities |
| Year |
2020 |
| Published |
Journal Of The Association For Information Science And Technology, 71, 9 |
| DOI |
10.1002/asi.24387 |
| Abstract |
This article explorestechnological sovereigntyas a way to respond toanxieties of controlin digital urban contexts, and argues that this may promise a more meaningful social license to operate smart cities. First, we present an overview of smart city developments with a critical focus on corporatization and platform urbanism. We critique Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs development in Toronto, which faces public backlash from the #BlockSidewalk campaign in response to concerns over not just privacy, but also lack of community consultation, the prospect of the city losing its civic ability to self-govern, and its repossession of public land and infrastructure. Second, we explore what a more responsible smart city could look like, underpinned by technological sovereignty, which is a way to use technologies to promote individual and collective autonomy and empowerment via ownership, control, and self-governance of data and technologies. To this end, we juxtapose the Sidewalk Labs development in Toronto with the Barcelona Digital City plan. We illustrate the merits (and limits) of technological sovereignty moving toward a fairer and more equitable digital society. |
| Author Keywords |
|
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000543919500001 |
| WoS Category |
Computer Science, Information Systems; Information Science & Library Science |
| Research Area |
Computer Science; Information Science & Library Science |
| PDF |
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/200269/1/JASIST_ePrints.pdf
|