ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how technology plays an interchangeable role with livelihood strategies of those living in marginalised conditions in the global South, as informal urbanisation has become part of the everyday. It argues that learning from these experiences is not only relevant to the developing world, but resonates globally. Recent urban debates have highlighted the problematic relationship between the smart city imagination and entrepreneurialism, whilst earlier ‘digital city’ explorations sought to understand the relationship between city governance and smart technologies. Area-based approaches carry potential for equitable regeneration by approaching urban development and redevelopment from a holistic viewpoint, inclusive of the need of the whole population living in a place. The ubiquitous computing characterising smart urbanism visions means the fixtures and utilities of contemporary life, the everyday functions and infrastructural uses, are, ‘augmented with computational capacities’.
