Making smart fair: building inclusive, fair and sustainable transport for cities of the future

Abstract

This paper examines ‘smart cities’, which are emerging in recent years as a technology-led response to problems facing the world’s conurbations as they grow in number, size and complexity. Smart cities are intended to harness and harmonise technological innovations – especially Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT) – to improve infrastructures and outcomes in terms of efficiency, sustainability and citizen engagement. The main focus of this paper is on smart transport or ‘Intelligent Transport Systems’ (ITS), as a key or perhaps even the predominant element of a smart city. We critically review current orthodoxies on smart city transport and raise important new questions on gendered inequalities and sustainability.