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The Smart City Conundrum for Social Justice: Youth Perspectives on Digital Technologies and Urban Transformations

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  • Michele Masucci
  • Hamil Pearsall
  • Alan Wiig

Abstract

This article employs a social justice framing to examine youth perspectives of the smart city. We examine how youth understand the impact of digital technologies on urban transformations and whether their technology skills and digital literacy give them a sense of ownership over the future of their city. Research was conducted within the context of a six-week summer educational program involving seventy-nine youth of color from public high schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The program mixed digital skill building with urban fieldwork to prototype solutions to long-standing urban problems: the sort of problems that smart city policies also seek to change. Our research points to a conundrum for youth. Although they embraced technological innovations, they indicated that digital technologies failed to serve the public or address pressing concerns they identified as problematic within the city: crime, drugs, and homelessness. Instead, in their view, digital technologies delivered the most benefit to private spaces in the home and workplace. Furthermore, the youth did not envision that emergent technologies would improve their neighborhoods or communities but only their employment prospects. This research suggests that the emergent smart city is reproducing actual as well as perceived urban inequities: Wealthy residential neighborhoods and spaces of the new economy become “smart,” but much of the city remains left behind. These patterns create a paradox for youth who invest in digital skills while remaining on the margins of technology-driven, smart urban change. Key Words: digital divide, Philadelphia, smart city, social justice, youth.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Masucci & Hamil Pearsall & Alan Wiig, 2020. "The Smart City Conundrum for Social Justice: Youth Perspectives on Digital Technologies and Urban Transformations," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 110(2), pages 476-484, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:110:y:2020:i:2:p:476-484
    DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2019.1617101
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dezhi Li & Wentao Wang & Guanying Huang & Shenghua Zhou & Shiyao Zhu & Haibo Feng, 2023. "How to Enhance Citizens’ Sense of Gain in Smart Cities? A SWOT-AHP-TOWS Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 787-820, February.
    2. Federico Cugurullo & Federico Caprotti & Matthew Cook & Andrew Karvonen & Pauline MᶜGuirk & Simon Marvin, 2024. "The rise of AI urbanism in post-smart cities: A critical commentary on urban artificial intelligence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(6), pages 1168-1182, May.
    3. Nancy Micozzi & Tan Yigitcanlar, 2022. "Understanding Smart City Policy: Insights from the Strategy Documents of 52 Local Governments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-26, August.
    4. Sha, Kritika & Taeihagh, Araz & De Jong, Martin, 2024. "Governing disruptive technologies for inclusive development in cities: A systematic literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    5. Raisa Sultana & Scott Hawken, 2023. "Reconciling Nature-Technology-Child Connections: Smart Cities and the Necessity of a New Paradigm of Nature-Sensitive Technologies for Today’s Children," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, April.

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