Abstract
Local governments are responding to rising complexities in service delivery, governance, and civic stewardship with novel interdisciplinary discourses that converge previously separate disciplines. Smart Heritage, the novel convergence of smart city and heritage disciplines, is one interdisciplinary discourse that local governments utilise to address these demands. To successfully deliver Smart Heritage, local governments must understand how the interdisciplinary relationships, influence, and aspirations function within their organisation. However, due to the novelty of Smart Heritage, no academic research exists on these matters, particularly within local government contexts. Therefore, this article reports how relationships, influence, and strategic aspirations between the smart city and heritage discipline intersect as Smart Heritage. It draws on interviews with smart city and heritage advisors from three local governments in Australia. It finds a case-by-case working relationship between the disciplines, which indicates an emergent-yet-tenuous Smart Heritage discourse. Moreover, the interdisciplinary relationships influence broader considerations from the advisors than their single discipline. These considerations produce innovative aspirations for local governments on heritage and smart city matters. This finding establishes the first foundational understanding of Smart Heritage within local government.
Highlights
Local governments across the globe are applying the smart city discipline to new contexts to address the increasing demands of urbanisation regarding service delivery, governance, and civic stewardship
Technology is beneficial for the dynamic ability to monitor and adapt mobility, infrastructure, and governance management to real-time demands that are informed by continuous live data feeds
Instead of comparing smart city strategic documents and heritage themes, this research interviewed local Australian government employees who worked in the smart city and heritage disciplines to compare their experiences with interdisciplinary relationships, influence, and aspirations
Summary
Neirotti et al concisely describe the adoption of smart technology by governments as “a new paradigm” [6], where smart technology holds the same transformation power over the city as mass production of automobiles had in the mid-twentieth century, reshaping the physical and social cityscape. Against this backdrop, novel smart discourses are emerging from the convergence of new technologies and traditional disciplines within local government contexts. Technology is beneficial for the dynamic ability to monitor and adapt mobility, infrastructure, and governance management to real-time demands that are informed by continuous live data feeds
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