ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the various critiques of smart city rhetoric and deployments and seeks to suggest social, political and practical interventions that would enable better designed and more equitable and just smart city initiatives. It seeks to bridge the gap between advocates and critics by critically examining the production of smart cities and suggesting new visions of smart urbanism that seek to gain some of the promises of networked Information & Communication Technology while addressing some of their more problematic aspects. The book highlights two important aspects that are often missing from smart city research to date. First, the need to place smart city developments into a longer historical context. Second, the need to understand the complex organizational and political work required to initiate, mobilize and sustain initiatives such as Smart Docklands that involve multiple stakeholders who have different motivations and aims.
