ABSTRACT
Smart cities are often seen as the means for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanisation, promoting sustainable urban growth, creating socially inclusive societies and responding to climate change by increasing resilience. However, the utopian rhetoric of smart cities scenarios ignores the complexities of urban societies and the very diverse experiences of citizens across a transforming world. Cities, smart ones included, are far from static or controllable entities. As AbdouMaliq Simone observes, cities are rather worlds of ‘constant rehearsal and revision, improvisation and experimentation, planning and anticipation’. Scenarios are a common method of getting a better grip on the future, particularly when the future is understood to be in crisis, malfunctioning, or uncertain. Scenario thinking is a prominent strand in climate science and policy, where it draws on predictive scientific knowledge, based on computer models and simulations to present potential future climate risks.
