ABSTRACT
Across the globe, cities are expanding their efforts to become ‘more digitalised,’ ‘more intelligent,’ and ‘smarter’, a powerful metaphor for the way contemporary society organises and understands itself. The climate of austerity is placing additional pressure on public bodies to do more with less, particularly at the local level where government services have the greatest impact on people’s everyday lives. In this atmosphere, becoming ‘smart’ and data-driven is understood as key in the preparation of an efficient and cost-effective future. The original ‘Right to the City’ was introduced by Henri Lefebvre in 1968, demanding a radical restructuring of social, political, and economic relations in the city, leaving behind the superiority of capital and approaching empowerment of urban inhabitants. Cities are complex ecosystems of diverse agents, with power to affect the organisation of space, and with decisive mutually dependent interests.
