Knowledge politics in the smart city: A case study of strategic urban planning in Cambridge, UK

Timea Nochta,Noura Wahby,Jennifer M Schooling

doi:10.1017/dap.2021.28

Timea Nochta, Noura Wahby + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/dap.2021.28

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Abstract

AbstractThis paper highlights the need and opportunities for constructively combining different types of (analogue and data-driven) knowledges in evidence-informed policy decision-making in future smart cities. Problematizing the assumed universality and objectivity of data-driven knowledge, we call attention to notions of “positionality” and “situatedness” in knowledge production relating to the urban present and possible futures. In order to illustrate our arguments, we draw on a case study of strategic urban (spatial) planning in the Cambridge city region in the United Kingdom. Tracing diverse knowledge production processes, including top-down data-driven knowledges derived from urban modeling, and bottom-up analogue community-based knowledges, allows us to identify locationally specific knowledge politics around evidence for policy. The findings highlight how evidence-informed urban policy can benefit from political processes of competition, contestation, negotiation, and complementarity that arise from interactions between diverse “digital” and “analogue” knowledges. We argue that studying such processes can help in assembling a more multifaceted, diverse and inclusive knowledge-base on which to base policy decisions, as well as to raise awareness and improve active participation in the ongoing “smartification” of cities.

Highlights

Policy Significance Statement Articulating the value of smart city development necessitates a deeper understanding of how knowledge about the city derived from digital data, and the “new science of cities”, can contribute to improving evidence-informed urban policy and services
We argue that evidence-informed urban policy can, benefit from political processes of competition, contestation, negotiation, and complementarity that arise from interactions between diverse “digital” and “analogue” knowledges
In order to deepen our understanding of these unfolding processes of “knowledge politics,” we propose that notions of “positionality” and “situatedness” can help make sense of knowledge production in and e31-4 Timea Nochta et al

Summary

Knowledges and Evidence in Smart Urban Planning

While the smart city agenda is relatively new, the drive to “rationalize” public policy and services has a longer history. Open innovation and policy co-creation are considered key components of “smart” urban governance (Meijer and Bolívar, 2016), it remains unclear how diverse “digital” and “analogue” knowledges could or should be combined constructively to improve decision-making processes and outcomes in aspiring smart cities (cf Smith and Martín, 2021) This is problematic because, in the context of the ongoing smartification of cities, data-driven “evidence” exhibits a tendency to claim monopoly (or at least superiority) over knowing and understanding the urban at the expense of others— for example, professional experience or diverse local community perspectives (Kitchin, 2016). We argue that finding ways to constructively combine different types of knowledge can help achieve this aim, redirecting smartification processes toward creating more sustainable and equitable urban futures (Nochta et al, 2019d; Du et al, 2021; Mora et al, 2021)

An Illustrative Case

Knowledge use Impact on policy decision-making

Concluding Remarks