ABSTRACT
The ‘smart city’ is defined by the emergence of new ways in which material urban systems are interconnected through information and data, changes in the processes through which cities are monitored, managed and analysed and a shift in how citizens participate, interact with the city and inhabit its spaces. This raises questions as to the future governance of cities and the role of interconnected data, people, places and urban systems which makes the challenge of understanding, designing and reflecting on smart cities an important new field to be investigated. To address this challenge, the volume aims to answer the question of what it means for a city to be ‘smart’, raise some of the tensions emerging in smart city developments and consider the implications for future ways of inhabiting and understanding the urban condition. The key feature of this volume is that it draws on perspectives from the field of urban studies, architecture, urban design and urban planning. The consideration of what shapes the smart city will be explored through discussing three broad ‘parts’: issues of governance, the nature of urban development and how visions are realised, and includes chapters that draw on empirical studies to frame the discussion with an understanding not just of the nature of the smart city but how it is studied, understood and reflected upon. Overall the book situates the topic as capturing the landscape of the discussion by drawing together a range of disciplinary approaches and discussions and aims to provide a resource to enable readers to take their own critical position within the field of smart cities discourse.
