Smart-sustainability : A new urban fix?
(2019) In Sustainable Cities and Society 45. p.640-648- Abstract
- Urban policy increasingly positions smart urban development as a transformative approach to deliver sustain- ability. In this paper, we question the transformative credentials of smartness and argue that it is better un- derstood as a partial fix for the economic, environmental and social challenges faced by cities. Drawing on the urban sustainability and smart city literatures, we develop the concept of the urban smart-sustainability fix. This concept focuses on how smart-sustainable city initiatives selectively integrate digital and environmental agendas via entrepreneurial forms of urban governance. We develop this concept by examining how the urban smart- sustainability fix is constructed in the European Commission’s flagship smart... (More)
- Urban policy increasingly positions smart urban development as a transformative approach to deliver sustain- ability. In this paper, we question the transformative credentials of smartness and argue that it is better un- derstood as a partial fix for the economic, environmental and social challenges faced by cities. Drawing on the urban sustainability and smart city literatures, we develop the concept of the urban smart-sustainability fix. This concept focuses on how smart-sustainable city initiatives selectively integrate digital and environmental agendas via entrepreneurial forms of urban governance. We develop this concept by examining how the urban smart- sustainability fix is constructed in the European Commission’s flagship smart cities and communities lighthouse projects, focusing on the Triangulum initiative. Our research reveals three elements of the urban smart-sus- tainability fix: (1) the spatial development of smart-sustainable districts; (2) the digitisation of urban infra- structure to reveal hidden processes; and, (3) collaborative experimentation with low-carbon and digital tech- nologies. We argue that this has produced urban districts that are attempting to reduce their carbon emissions while promoting green economic growth. The main aim of the urban smart-sustainability fix is to make the urban realm more manageable resulting in amplification, rather than transformation, of the dominant ecological modernisation agenda of sustainable development. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/6b6c3669-117f-4bd5-847f-7b1fe3f4bd1c
- author
- Martin, Chris ; Evans, James ; Karvonen, Andrew LU ; Paskaleva, Krassimira ; Yang, Dujuan and Lindjordet, Trond
- publishing date
- 2019
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Smart city, Urban sustainability, smart-sustainability fix, ecological modernisation agenda
- in
- Sustainable Cities and Society
- volume
- 45
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85059301989
- ISSN
- 2210-6707
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.scs.2018.11.028
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 6b6c3669-117f-4bd5-847f-7b1fe3f4bd1c
- date added to LUP
- 2021-10-20 17:44:23
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 04:59:42
@article{6b6c3669-117f-4bd5-847f-7b1fe3f4bd1c,
abstract = {{Urban policy increasingly positions smart urban development as a transformative approach to deliver sustain- ability. In this paper, we question the transformative credentials of smartness and argue that it is better un- derstood as a partial fix for the economic, environmental and social challenges faced by cities. Drawing on the urban sustainability and smart city literatures, we develop the concept of the urban smart-sustainability fix. This concept focuses on how smart-sustainable city initiatives selectively integrate digital and environmental agendas via entrepreneurial forms of urban governance. We develop this concept by examining how the urban smart- sustainability fix is constructed in the European Commission’s flagship smart cities and communities lighthouse projects, focusing on the Triangulum initiative. Our research reveals three elements of the urban smart-sus- tainability fix: (1) the spatial development of smart-sustainable districts; (2) the digitisation of urban infra- structure to reveal hidden processes; and, (3) collaborative experimentation with low-carbon and digital tech- nologies. We argue that this has produced urban districts that are attempting to reduce their carbon emissions while promoting green economic growth. The main aim of the urban smart-sustainability fix is to make the urban realm more manageable resulting in amplification, rather than transformation, of the dominant ecological modernisation agenda of sustainable development.}},
author = {{Martin, Chris and Evans, James and Karvonen, Andrew and Paskaleva, Krassimira and Yang, Dujuan and Lindjordet, Trond}},
issn = {{2210-6707}},
keywords = {{Smart city; Urban sustainability; smart-sustainability fix; ecological modernisation agenda}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{640--648}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Sustainable Cities and Society}},
title = {{Smart-sustainability : A new urban fix?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.11.028}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.scs.2018.11.028}},
volume = {{45}},
year = {{2019}},
}