ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introductory overview of urban science, an accompanying academic approach to the study and formulation of smart cities. It defines urban science, details its practitioners and their aims, sets out its relationship to urban informatics and urban studies, and explains its epistemology and the analysis of urban big data. It then summarizes criticism of urban science with respect to epistemology, instrumental rationality, data issues and ethics. It is concluded that urban science research will continue to prosper for the foreseeable future but that it is unlikely it will become a new paradigm for making sense of cities, producing an integrative approach that replaces the diverse philosophical traditions within urban studies.
