Coletta, Claudio and Heaphy, Liam and Kitchin, Rob (2019) From the accidental to articulated smart city: The creation and work of ‘Smart Dublin’. European Urban and Regional Studies, 26 (4). pp. 349-364. ISSN 0969-7764

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Abstract

While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there have been relatively few studies that have examined the situated practices by which the smart city unfolds in specific places. In this paper, we draw on three sets of interviews (n = 114) and ethnographic fieldwork to chart the smart city ecosystem in Dublin, Ireland. We examine how the four city authorities have actively collaborated to frame a disparate and uncoordinated set of information and communication technology-led initiatives, what Dourish terms the ‘accidental smart city’, into an articulated vision of Dublin as a smart city. In particular, we focus on the work of ‘Smart Dublin’, a shared unit established to coordinate, manage and promote Dublin’s smart city initiatives and to drive new economic development opportunities centred on corporate interventions into urban management and living. Our analysis highlights the value of undertaking a holistic mapping of a smart city in formation, and the role of political and administrative geographies and specialist smart city units in shaping that formation.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Cite as: Coletta C, Heaphy L, Kitchin R. From the accidental to articulated smart city: The creation and work of ‘Smart Dublin.’ European Urban and Regional Studies. 2019;26(4):349-364. doi:10.1177/0969776418785214
Keywords:	Governance; procurement by challenge; Small Business Innovation Research; scaling; smart city; Smart Dublin; strategy; test-bedding;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute, MUSSI
Item ID:	14658
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776418785214
Depositing User:	Prof. Rob Kitchin
Date Deposited:	28 Jul 2021 14:41
Journal or Publication Title:	European Urban and Regional Studies
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
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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