Abstract
This paper builds upon an earlier conference publication by the authors, offering contributions based on a systematic literature review and qualitative study. The paper begins by drawing attention to the paucity of “citizen”—more appropriately, “situated”—perspectives on what a smart city should and could be. The paper then addresses that absence by detailing a research project that explored how people in London, Manchester, and Glasgow responded to the smart city concept. Participants were asked questions regarding their prior familiarity with the phrase “smart city”, their thoughts relating to what it means for a city to be smart, and what a “true” smart city might mean to them. The paper analyses and offers a synthesis of the responses collected throughout the research with the dominant rhetoric about smart cities, as identified through a recent systematic literature review, thereby providing a critical assessment of the values underlying the smart city. It aims to explore and present some of the expectations that citizens hold for their cities’ politicians, policy makers, planners, academics, and technology companies. We believe that these perspectives from citizens can be used to inform responsible development, spatially and socially inclusive technologies, and ultimately more resilient cities.
Highlights
This paper builds upon a previous conference publication [1] and describes a research project carried out in 2015
Large scale visions of the smart city that are presented in many academic research papers and corporate marketing materials seem in direct contrast to the ways in which citizens envision it [1]
None of the participants who claimed they were familiar with the term mentioned any specific companies, universities or academics involved with smart city development
Summary
This paper builds upon a previous conference publication [1] and describes a research project carried out in 2015. Large scale visions of the smart city that are presented in many academic research papers and corporate marketing materials seem in direct contrast to the ways in which citizens envision it [1]. The citizen’s vision and sense of scale is a perspective that is largely absent from the literature surveyed for this research project [1] In this respect, our paper seeks to introduce the concept of smaller, more tangible interventions in the city that have the potential to be more meaningful for citizens. The proliferation of smart city literature results partly from the increase in city populations, with the majority of the world’s population living in urban areas for the first time in history [7] This expanding area of academic study and marketing literature deals with a wide variety of technologies in an urban context
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