Bradshaw, Robert and Kitchin, Rob (2021) Charting the design and implementation of the smart city: the case of citizen-centric bikeshare in Hamilton, Ontario. Urban Geography. ISSN 0272-3638

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Abstract

Previous scholarship on the smart city has expressed concern at the top-down, technocratic nature of smart technologies and the lack of meaningful citizen participation in their development. In this paper, we utilize instrumentalization theory to trace the initiation, design and deployment of a specific smart city initiative: bikeshare in Hamilton, Ontario. Smart bikeshare is increasingly seen as complicit in processes of social stratification, serving a predominately white, middle-class demographic and particular locales. Our case study reveals the potential of reflexive design praxes to reconfigure bikeshare as a platform for both instrumental and social value. In particular, we highlight how collaborative, open and inclusive forms of urban governance can enroll a broad range of civic actors to create a scheme that embodies diverse but complimentary goals and ideologies. We conclude that instrumentalization theory provides a conceptual means to open up the “black box” of urban design to critical interrogation, and to identify how to enact participatory design and citizen-centric smart urbanism.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. Cite as: Robert Bradshaw & Rob Kitchin (2021) Charting the design and implementation of the smart city: the case of citizen-centric bikeshare in Hamilton, Ontario, Urban Geography, DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2021.1878439
Keywords:	Bikeshare; smart city; citizenship; participatory design; instrumentalization theory;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute, MUSSI
Item ID:	14635
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2021.1878439
Depositing User:	Prof. Rob Kitchin
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2021 16:49
Journal or Publication Title:	Urban Geography
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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