ABSTRACT

Just as important as the line of questioning about how the lack of representativeness might be rectified were the responses from the panelists. The representative from the City of Atlanta’s i-team noted that in order to include these more marginalized groups, the city was partnering with organizations in Atlanta’s historic Westside, a conglomeration of largely poor and African-American neighborhoods just to the west of downtown. At a roundtable lunch discussion hosted by a local entrepreneurial organization in the summer of 2016, representatives from the municipal government, private sector and civil society organizations were present to discuss how they’re engaging with the idea of smart cities and the future of government. While the ways that on-the-ground actors are deploying the discourse of the smart citizen, even in a generic way, when justifying their work are undoubtedly an important aspect of the story, it is important to pair the figure of the general citizen with that of the absent citizen.