Understanding the roles of expectation in making the open Programmable Harbour City (OPHC)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite over a decade of development, smart cities remain at a stage of visions and expectations. There is a dualist attitude in the smart cities literature, whereby the research either studies the content of visions or compares the visions with the innovation outcomes. What expectations actually do in a smart city innovation process is often neglected. This article addressed this gap by adopting an ethnographic approach and applying conceptual tools from the sociology of expectations and strategic niche management to study a UK smart city project – the Open Programmable Harbour City (OPHC). This study enriches the literature on smart city vision by showing that expectation played four complex and paradoxical roles in making the OPHC: (1) It tidied up the messy past and prescribed a future. (2) It provided limited coordination for innovation activities. (3) It helped to attract attentions to the OPHC, but it also caused disappointments. (4) It provided protection for the negative experimental results, but the overprotection also impeded innovation. This article concludes with four valuable lessons about expectation management for smart city innovators and some fresh theoretical insights for the sociology of expectations and strategic niche management.