Is It All About Awareness?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore contemporary understandings of the smart city movement in relation to information technology (IT) transformations, specifically emerging aware technologies and the use of social media in urban spaces. Faced with rapid urban growth, cities are responding by innovating themselves to address the associated and unprecedented challenges and opportunities. This paper is significant in that it reaches across interdisciplinary domains, to shed light on awareness and the smart cities phenomena. The theoretical perspective for this work draws on material-discursive practices, practice theory, and a performative perspective in relation to IT transformations, smart cities, and awareness. The research design for this study employs an exploratory case study approach, a minimally viable social media space, and multiple methods of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. This paper focuses on two levels of analysis, the individual and the social, in contemporary urban environments. Anecdotal evidence from informal conversations conducted in parallel with this study supports further data analysis, comparison, and triangulation. Key findings are discussed in terms of awareness in relation to experiences of contemporary urban spaces based on the constructs of noticing, sensing, sharing, and smartness. The major contributions of this work include: further development of the research literature for awareness and for IT transformations in relation to smart cities; development, operationalization, and advancing of a conceptual framework for awareness in smart cities; and the identification of future directions for smart cities practitioners and researchers.