ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how smart reconfigures urban processes and practices by looking at distinct initiatives in two French cities. The two French cities are Issy-Les-Moulineaux and Nice. The chapter identifies some of the differences that smart projects contribute to the ongoing constitution of infrastructural and organisational change. There is no one-size-fits-all smart city because the importance of urban context, public authority roles and ways of doing, and the materiality of the urban fabric all contribute to smart urban interventions. There remains a crucial role for local authorities in smart urban governance as they promote experimentation and learning while drawing on visibilities engendered through smart to safeguard their own remits of action within shifting and uncertain public–private relations. The chapter concludes by reflecting briefly on the implications of smart urbanism with regard to long-term action in the context of continuing uncertainty and disorder.
