The Social Appraisal of Techno-Experiments
Whirlpools and Mosaics of Smart Urbanism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15319087 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martijn Gerritsen (0000-0002-9283-9668, University of Amsterdam), Federico Savini (0000-0002-4112-6908, University of Amsterdam, corresponding author), Beatriz Pineda Revilla (University of Amsterdam) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 33-54 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Urban Technology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1063-0732 • E-ISSN: 1466-1853 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10630732.2020.1777812 |
| OpenAlex | W3048690348 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 32 |
Technology-driven experiments—techno-experiments—have become a central mode of spatial intervention in a paradigm of smart growth. They are often considered a manifestation of a techno-managerial approach to governance, built upon the increasing influence of IT corporations on urban politics. Yet, there is little evidence indicating how these interests articulate techno-experiments and shape their legacies over the long run. This paper questions the varied politics of techno-experiments by comparing four projects in Stockholm and Amsterdam: two smart energy grid pilots and two online community-based platforms. Mobilizing the notion of the “social appraisal of technology,” it argues that techno-experiments can take different forms depending on how the role of digital technology is defined and negotiated by actors throughout the process of experimentation. The paper empirically shows that experiments can evolve in two main ways, defined as “whirlpools” and “mosaics.” As whirlpools, they upscale self-referentially; as mosaics, they instead extend into a set of scattered spin-offs. The key factors producing such outcomes, these cases show, are the form of partnership established at the outset of techno-experiments, and the ability of research funding and governmental agencies to steer projects as they develop
Computer security · Corporate governance · Economics · General partnership · Key (lock · Management · Political science · Politics · Process (computing · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Urbanism · Computer Science · History · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Law · Smart Cities and Technologies · Architecture
The experimental city
Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements
Case Study Research
Unplugging
Critical interventions into the corporate smart city
Smart cities from scratch? A socio-technical perspective
Making sense of smart cities
IBM's smart city as techno-utopian policy mobility
On alternative smart cities
Urban living laboratories
Analysis, participation and power
How do we understand smart cities? An evolutionary perspective
Developing a critical understanding of smart urbanism
The Experimental City
Smartmentality
Resilience, ecology and adaptation in the experimental city
Will the real smart city please stand up
Smart cities as corporate storytelling
Citizen Participation and Environmental Risk
Opening Up" and "Closing Down
Rationales for Public Participation in Environmental Policy and Governance
Smart Cities and Green Growth
Urban Laboratories
Start-up urbanism
The Local Politics of Policy Mobility
Urban experimentation as a politics of niches
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |