Igor Calzada, lecturer and research fellow in Urban Transformations and the Future of Cities at the University of Oxford, has recentrly written a chapter in the book “Co-Designing Economies in Transition: Radical Approaches in Dialogue with Contemplative Social Sciences“, regarding the evolution of smart cities into a new category, the “experimental city”. Starting with the deconstruction of the concept of “smartness”, Calzada attempts to foresee how citizenship could require a more active role in this new category.
Abstract
Calzada examines in this chapter the ways in which the hegemonic approach to the “smart city’ is evolving into a new intervention category, called the “experimental city.’ While this evolution presents some innovations, mainly regarding how smart citizens will be increasingly considered more as decision makers than data providers, likewise, some underlying issues arise, concerning the hidden side and ethical implications of the techno-politics of data and the urban commons.
These issues engage with multi-stakeholders, particularly with the specific Penta Helix framework that brings together private sector, public sector, academia, civic society, and entrepreneurs. These innovations in urban life and its governance will inevitably bring us into debate about new potential models of business and society, concerning, for instance, the particular urban co-operative scheme employed.
About the book
This transdisciplinary volume puts forward proposals for wiser, socially just and sustainable socio-economic systems in transition. There is growing support for the view that the end of capitalism is around the corner, but on which conceptual and ethical basis can we interpret these times?
With investigations into feminist economics, post-growth environmentalism, socio-technical digital design, collaborative and commons economics, the editors create a dialogue between radical knowledge/practices and contemplative social sciences to transgress disciplinary boundaries and implement new visions of reality. This important book challenges our ways of thinking and outlines a pathway for new research.
Cite this chapter:
Calzada I. (2018) From Smart Cities to Experimental Cities?. In: Giorgino V., Walsh Z. (eds) Co-Designing Economies in Transition. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
- Read the whole book or chapters of it here.