IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v57y2020i4p894-915.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The social innovation–(re)politicisation nexus: Unlocking the political in actually existing smart city campaigns? The case of SmartCity Cologne, Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Leitheiser

    (University of Groningen, the Netherlands)

  • Alexander Follmann

    (University of Cologne, Germany)

Abstract

As a prominent and performative discourse, The Smart City has the potential to shape urban futures. Yet, its mostly top-down implementation and dominantly technocratic definition of problems raises critiques of The Smart City as the latest version of a series of post-political and neoliberal visions of urban governance. However, as smart cities are implemented into ‘actually existing’ strategies locally, they are always negotiated and translated into place-specific contexts. Beyond critiquing the powerful discourse of The Smart City , the social innovation–(re)politicisation nexus (SIRN) spells out a framework for contesting and co-producing radically transformative smart city visions and politics as they take shape on the ground. Linking the empirical case study of the ‘top-down’ implementation of SmartCity Cologne, Germany, to current ‘bottom-up’ discourses on reclaiming the urban commons, we show how ‘true’ and ‘real’ social innovation must go hand-in-hand with a re-politicisation of hegemonic logics and discursive framings. In doing so, this paper makes theoretical and empirical contributions to public and academic discourse on which governance practices, methods and policies could contribute to radical transformations towards a ‘truly’ smart and sustainable urban future.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Leitheiser & Alexander Follmann, 2020. "The social innovation–(re)politicisation nexus: Unlocking the political in actually existing smart city campaigns? The case of SmartCity Cologne, Germany," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(4), pages 894-915, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:4:p:894-915
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098019869820
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098019869820
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098019869820?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jenni Viitanen & Richard Kingston, 2014. "Smart Cities and Green Growth: Outsourcing Democratic and Environmental Resilience to the Global Technology Sector," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(4), pages 803-819, April.
    2. Yigitcanlar, Tan & Kamruzzaman, Md., 2018. "Does smart city policy lead to sustainability of cities?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 49-58.
    3. Rob Kitchin, 2015. "Making sense of smart cities: addressing present shortcomings," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 131-136.
    4. Torill Nyseth & Abdelillah Hamdouch, 2019. "The Transformative Power of Social Innovation in Urban Planning and Local Development," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-6.
    5. Robert G. Hollands, 2008. "Will the real smart city please stand up?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 303-320, December.
    6. S. Becker & M. Naumann & T. Moss, 2017. "Between coproduction and commons: understanding initiatives to reclaim urban energy provision in Berlin and Hamburg," Urban Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 63-85, January.
    7. Renata Paola Dameri, 2017. "Smart City Implementation," Progress in IS, Springer, number 978-3-319-45766-6.
    8. Ola Söderström & Till Paasche & Francisco Klauser, 2014. "Smart cities as corporate storytelling," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 307-320, June.
    9. Simon Joss & Matthew Cook & Youri Dayot, 2017. "Smart Cities: Towards a New Citizenship Regime? A Discourse Analysis of the British Smart City Standard," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 29-49, October.
    10. Richter, Mario, 2013. "Business model innovation for sustainable energy: German utilities and renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1226-1237.
    11. Hilary Silver & Alan Scott & Yuri Kazepov, 2010. "Participation in Urban Contention and Deliberation," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 453-477, September.
    12. Cristina Temenos & Eugene McCann, 2012. "The Local Politics of Policy Mobility: Learning, Persuasion, and the Production of a Municipal Sustainability Fix," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(6), pages 1389-1406, June.
    13. Silvia Crivello, 2015. "Urban Policy Mobilities: The Case of Turin as a Smart City," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 909-921, May.
    14. Robert G. Hollands, 2015. "Critical interventions into the corporate smart city," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 61-77.
    15. Andrew Cumbers & Sören Becker, 2018. "Making sense of remunicipalisation: theoretical reflections on and political possibilities from Germany’s Rekommumalisierung process," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 11(3), pages 503-517.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mora, Luca & Gerli, Paolo & Ardito, Lorenzo & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio, 2023. "Smart city governance from an innovation management perspective: Theoretical framing, review of current practices, and future research agenda," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    2. Tan Yigitcanlar & Federico Cugurullo, 2020. "The Sustainability of Artificial Intelligence: An Urbanistic Viewpoint from the Lens of Smart and Sustainable Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-24, October.
    3. Yanmin Xu & Wengang Li & Jianjiang Tai & Chunjiong Zhang, 2022. "A Bibliometric-Based Analytical Framework for the Study of Smart City Lifeforms in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Pauline McGuirk & Robyn Dowling & Pratichi Chatterjee, 2021. "Municipal Statecraft For The Smart City: Retooling The Smart Entrepreneurial City?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(7), pages 1730-1748, October.
    5. Stephen Leitheiser & Elen-Maarja Trell & Ina Horlings & Alex Franklin, 2022. "Toward the commoning of governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(3), pages 744-762, May.
    6. Marchesani, Filippo & Masciarelli, Francesca & Bikfalvi, Andrea, 2023. "Smart city as a hub for talent and innovative companies: Exploring the (dis) advantages of digital technology implementation in cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Johannes Stübinger & Lucas Schneider, 2020. "Understanding Smart City—A Data-Driven Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Trencher, Gregory, 2019. "Towards the smart city 2.0: Empirical evidence of using smartness as a tool for tackling social challenges," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 117-128.
    3. Mora, Luca & Deakin, Mark & Reid, Alasdair, 2019. "Strategic principles for smart city development: A multiple case study analysis of European best practices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 70-97.
    4. Mora, Luca & Deakin, Mark & Reid, Alasdair, 2019. "Combining co-citation clustering and text-based analysis to reveal the main development paths of smart cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 56-69.
    5. Kitchin, Rob & Cardullo, Paolo & Di Feliciantonio, Cesare, 2018. "Citizenship, Justice and the Right to the Smart City," SocArXiv b8aq5, Center for Open Science.
    6. Adrian Buttazzoni & Marta Veenhof & Leia Minaker, 2020. "Smart City and High-Tech Urban Interventions Targeting Human Health: An Equity-Focused Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-23, March.
    7. Bernd W. Wirtz & Wilhelm M. Müller & Florian W. Schmidt, 2021. "Digital Public Services in Smart Cities – an Empirical Analysis of Lead User Preferences," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 299-315, June.
    8. Fromhold-Eisebith, Martina & Eisebith, Günter, 2019. "What can Smart City policies in emerging economies actually achieve? Conceptual considerations and empirical insights from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Munan Li, 2019. "Visualizing the studies on smart cities in the past two decades: a two-dimensional perspective," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(2), pages 683-705, August.
    10. Andrew Karvonen & Matthew Cook & Håvard Haarstad, 2020. "Urban Planning and the Smart City: Projects, Practices and Politics," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(1), pages 65-68.
    11. Seema Mundoli & Hita Unnikrishnan & Harini Nagendra, 2017. "The “Sustainable” in smart cities: ignoring the importance of urban ecosystems," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 44(2), pages 103-120, June.
    12. Kummitha, Rama Krishna Reddy, 2018. "Entrepreneurial urbanism and technological panacea: Why Smart City planning needs to go beyond corporate visioning?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 330-339.
    13. Jun Zhang & Shuyang Li & Yichuan Wang, 2023. "Shaping a Smart Transportation System for Sustainable Value Co-Creation," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 365-380, February.
    14. Haarstad, Håvard & Wathne, Marikken W., 2019. "Are smart city projects catalyzing urban energy sustainability?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 918-925.
    15. Schiavone, Francesco & Paolone, Francesco & Mancini, Daniela, 2019. "Business model innovation for urban smartization," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 210-219.
    16. Andrew Karvonen & Matthew Cook & Håvard Haarstad, 2020. "Urban Planning and the Smart City: Projects, Practices and Politics," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(1), pages 65-68.
    17. Malene Freudendal-Pedersen & Sven Kesselring & Eriketti Servou, 2019. "What is Smart for the Future City? Mobilities and Automation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Francesco Schiavone & Francesco Paolo Appio & Luca Mora & Marcello Risitano, 2020. "The strategic, organizational, and entrepreneurial evolution of smart cities," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1155-1165, December.
    19. Kummitha, Rama Krishna Reddy, 2019. "Smart cities and entrepreneurship: An agenda for future research," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    20. Huaxiong Jiang & Stan Geertman & Patrick Witte, 2020. "Avoiding the planning support system pitfalls? What smart governance can learn from the planning support system implementation gap," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(8), pages 1343-1360, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:4:p:894-915. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.