IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/cjrecs/v8y2015i1p43-60..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Smart cities from scratch? A socio-technical perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Luís Carvalho

Abstract

This paper argues that contemporary smart city visions based on ITs (information and tele- communication technologies) configure complex socio-technical challenges that can benefit from strategic niche management to foster two key processes: technological learning and societal embedding. Moreover, it studies the extent to which those processes started to unfold in two paradigmatic cases of smart city pilots ‘from scratch’: Songdo (South Korea) and PlanIT Valley (Portugal). The rationale and potentials of the two pilots as arenas for socio-technical experimentation and global niche formation are analysed, as well as the tensions and bottlenecks involved in nurturing socially rich innovation ecosystems and in maintaining social and political support over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Luís Carvalho, 2015. "Smart cities from scratch? A socio-technical perspective," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 43-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cjrecs:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:43-60.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cjres/rsu010
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rotmans, J., 2005. "Societal Innovation: between dream and reality lies complexity," ERIM Inaugural Address Series Research in Management 7293, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam..
    2. Gernot Grabher & Oliver Ibert & Saskia Flohr, 2008. "The Neglected King: The Customer in the New Knowledge Ecology of Innovation," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(3), pages 253-280, July.
    3. Luís Carvalho & João Bruno Campos, 2013. "Developing the PlanIT Valley: a view on the governance and societal embedding of u-eco city pilots," International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(2), pages 109-125.
    4. Frank W. Geels, 2005. "Technological Transitions and System Innovations," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3576.
    5. Sofia T. Shwayri, 2013. "A Model Korean Ubiquitous Eco-City? The Politics of Making Songdo," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 39-55, January.
    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. Kummitha, Rama Krishna Reddy, 2019. "Smart cities and entrepreneurship: An agenda for future research," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    2. 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).
    3. Sawsan Abutabenjeh & Julius A. Nukpezah & Annus Azhar, 2022. "Do Smart Cities Technologies Contribute to Local Economic Development?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 36(1), pages 3-16, February.
    4. Diogo Correia & Leonor Teixeira & João Lourenço Marques, 2021. "Reviewing the State-of-the-Art of Smart Cities in Portugal: Evidence Based on Content Analysis of a Portuguese Magazine," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-30, October.
    5. Amy Glasmeier & Susan Christopherson, 2015. "Thinking about smart cities," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 3-12.
    6. Ben Robaeyst & Bastiaan Baccarne & Wout Duthoo & Dimitri Schuurman, 2021. "The City as an Experimental Environment: The Identification, Selection, and Activation of Distributed Knowledge in Regional Open Innovation Ecosystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    7. van Winden, Willem & Carvalho, Luís, 2019. "Intermediation in public procurement of innovation: How Amsterdam’s startup-in-residence programme connects startups to urban challenges," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    8. Miörner, Johan & Binz, Christian, 2020. "Toward a multi-scalar perspective of transition trajectories," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/10, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    9. Anna Majewska & Małgorzata Denis & Wioleta Krupowicz, 2020. "Urbanization Chaos of Suburban Small Cities in Poland: ‘Tetris Development’," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-27, November.
    10. Parul Gupta & Sumedha Chauhan & M. P. Jaiswal, 2019. "Classification of Smart City Research - a Descriptive Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 661-685, June.
    11. Haarstad, Håvard & Wathne, Marikken W., 2019. "Are smart city projects catalyzing urban energy sustainability?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 918-925.
    12. Gabriela Christmann & Ajit Singh & Jörg Stollmann & Christoph Bernhardt, 2020. "Visual Communication in Urban Design and Planning: The Impact of Mediatisation(s) on the Construction of Urban Futures," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(2), pages 1-9.
    13. Daniel Schmitt & Chisenga Muyoya, 2020. "Influence in Technological Innovation Spaces: A Network Science Approach to Understand Innovation for Sustainability in the Global South," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-18, March.
    14. 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.
    15. Karimikia, Hadi & Bradshaw, Robert & Singh, Harminder & Ojo, Adegboyega & Donnellan, Brian & Guerin, Michael, 2022. "An emergent taxonomy of boundary spanning in the smart city context – The case of smart Dublin," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    16. Oleg Golubchikov & Mary J. Thornbush, 2022. "Smart Cities as Hybrid Spaces of Governance: Beyond the Hard/Soft Dichotomy in Cyber-Urbanization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-12, August.
    17. Aditya Dinesh Gupta & Prerna Pandey & Andrés Feijóo & Zaher Mundher Yaseen & Neeraj Dhanraj Bokde, 2020. "Smart Water Technology for Efficient Water Resource Management: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, November.
    18. Miguel Manjon & Zineb Aouni & Nathalie Crutzen, 2022. "Green and digital entrepreneurship in smart cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 68(2), pages 429-462, April.
    19. Byron Miller & Kevin Ward & Ryan Burns & Victoria Fast & Anthony Levenda, 2021. "Worlding and provincialising smart cities: From individual case studies to a global comparative research agenda," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 655-673, February.
    20. 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.
    21. Harris Breslow, 2021. "The smart city and the containment of informality: The case of Dubai," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 471-486, February.
    22. Cristina Caterina Amitrano & Marco Tregua & Tiziana Russo Spena & Francesco Bifulco, 2018. "On Technology in Innovation Systems and Innovation-Ecosystem Perspectives: A Cross-Linking Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, October.

    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. Harry Geerlings & Bart Kuipers, 2013. "Smart governance and the management of sustainable mobility: an illustration of the application of policy integration and transition management in the Port of Rotterdam," Chapters, in: Thomas Vanoutrive & Ann Verhetsel (ed.), Smart Transport Networks, chapter 11, pages 224-247, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Yigitcanlar, Tan & Lee, Sang Ho, 2014. "Korean ubiquitous-eco-city: A smart-sustainable urban form or a branding hoax?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 100-114.
    3. Jos Timmermans & Hans Haan & Flaminio Squazzoni, 2008. "Computational and mathematical approaches to societal transitions," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 391-414, December.
    4. Luís Carvalho & Giuliano Mingardo & Jeroen Van Haaren, 2011. "Green Urban Transport Policies and Cleantech Innovations: Evidence from Curitiba, Göteborg and Hamburg," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 375-396, February.
    5. Karimikia, Hadi & Bradshaw, Robert & Singh, Harminder & Ojo, Adegboyega & Donnellan, Brian & Guerin, Michael, 2022. "An emergent taxonomy of boundary spanning in the smart city context – The case of smart Dublin," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    6. Kern, Florian & Smith, Adrian, 2008. "Restructuring energy systems for sustainability? Energy transition policy in the Netherlands," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 4093-4103, November.
    7. Chappin, Emile J.L. & Ligtvoet, Andreas, 2014. "Transition and transformation: A bibliometric analysis of two scientific networks researching socio-technical change," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 715-723.
    8. Coletta, Claudio & Heaphy, Liam & Kitchin, Rob, 2017. "From the accidental to articulated smart city: The creation and work of ‘Smart Dublin’," SocArXiv 93ga5, Center for Open Science.
    9. Okereke, Chukwumerije & Coke, Alexia & Geebreyesus, Mulu & Ginbo, Tsegaye & Wakeford, Jeremy J. & Mulugetta, Yacob, 2019. "Governing green industrialisation in Africa: Assessing key parameters for a sustainable socio-technical transition in the context of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 279-290.
    10. Avelino, Flor & Wittmayer, Julia M. & Pel, Bonno & Weaver, Paul & Dumitru, Adina & Haxeltine, Alex & Kemp, René & Jørgensen, Michael S. & Bauler, Tom & Ruijsink, Saskia & O'Riordan, Tim, 2019. "Transformative social innovation and (dis)empowerment," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 195-206.
    11. Giorgia Silvestri & Julia M. Wittmayer & Karlijn Schipper & Robinah Kulabako & Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng & Philip Nyenje & Hans Komakech & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Transition Management for Improving the Sustainability of WASH Services in Informal Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    12. Colvin, John & Blackmore, Chris & Chimbuya, Sam & Collins, Kevin & Dent, Mark & Goss, John & Ison, Ray & Roggero, Pier Paolo & Seddaiu, Giovanna, 2014. "In search of systemic innovation for sustainable development: A design praxis emerging from a decade of social learning inquiry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 760-771.
    13. David Gibbs & Kirstie O'Neill, 2014. "Rethinking Sociotechnical Transitions and Green Entrepreneurship: The Potential for Transformative Change in the Green Building Sector," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(5), pages 1088-1107, May.
    14. Maru, Yiheyis & Sparrow, Ashley & Stirzaker, Richard & Davies, Jocelyn, 2018. "Integrated agricultural research for development (IAR4D) from a theory of change perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 310-320.
    15. Geels, Frank W., 2006. "The hygienic transition from cesspools to sewer systems (1840-1930): The dynamics of regime transformation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1069-1082, September.
    16. Gavin Bridge & Ludger Gailing, 2020. "New energy spaces: Towards a geographical political economy of energy transition," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1037-1050, September.
    17. Harald Bathelt & Sebastian Henn, 2014. "The Geographies of Knowledge Transfers over Distance: Toward a Typology," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(6), pages 1403-1424, June.
    18. Charalambos Vlados & Fotios Katimertzopoulos, 2019. "The ¡°Mystery¡± of Innovation: Bridging the Economic and Business Thinking and the Stra.Tech.Man Approach," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 9(1), pages 236-262, March.
    19. Hugues Jeannerat & Leila Kebir, 2012. "Mobility of Knowledge. Knowledge resources and markets: What territorial economic systems ?," GRET Publications and Working Papers 02-12, GRET Group of Research in Territorial Economy, University of Neuchâtel.
    20. Héloïse Berkowitz, 2020. "Participatory Governance for the Development of the Blue Bioeconomy in the Mediterranean Region," Working Papers hal-02555685, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:oup:cjrecs:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:43-60.. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/cjres .

    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.