IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v47y2020i1p179-187.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The smart city model: A new panacea for urban sustainability or unmanageable complexity?

Author

Listed:
  • Johan Colding
  • Magnus Colding
  • Stephan Barthel

Abstract

Despite several calls in this journal of debating the rapid growth of the literature on “smart cities†, such a debate has in large been absent. Smart cities are often un-critically launched as a sustainable way of developing cities. When cities become increasingly complex as its features are wired into the Internet, theories for their understanding is lagging behind. As it is prospected that a greater number of people and things will become connected by Information and Computer Technology, the complexity of urban systems will over time increase. Historical insights reveal that as complexity in societies increase, growth in energy consumption tends to follow. In this paper, we discuss whether complexity carried too far could lead to diminishing returns of energy saving and create unmanageable urban systems. As part of initiating such a debate, this commentary asks whether the smart cities development has a bearing on the issue whether a society can erode its capacity of sustaining itself? We pose this question against the backdrop that no one actually knows what type of society the smart cities model in the end will generate.

Suggested Citation

  • Johan Colding & Magnus Colding & Stephan Barthel, 2020. "The smart city model: A new panacea for urban sustainability or unmanageable complexity?," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(1), pages 179-187, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:47:y:2020:i:1:p:179-187
    DOI: 10.1177/2399808318763164
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2399808318763164
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2399808318763164?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. Jeroen Bergh, 2011. "Energy Conservation More Effective With Rebound Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 43-58, January.
    2. Jens Malmodin & Dag Lundén & Åsa Moberg & Greger Andersson & Mikael Nilsson, 2014. "Life Cycle Assessment of ICT," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 18(6), pages 829-845, December.
    3. 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.
    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. Dubaniowski, Mateusz Iwo & Heinimann, Hans Rudolf, 2021. "Framework for modeling interdependencies between households, businesses, and infrastructure system, and their response to disruptions—application," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    2. Lill Sarv & Ralf-Martin Soe, 2021. "Transition towards Smart City: The Case of Tallinn," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.

    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. Constance Carr & Markus Hesse, 2020. "When Alphabet Inc. Plans Toronto’s Waterfront: New Post-Political Modes of Urban Governance," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(1), pages 69-83.
    2. Thomas, Brinda A. & Azevedo, Inês L., 2013. "Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for U.S. households with input–output analysis. Part 2: Simulation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 188-198.
    3. Kurt Kratena & Ina Meyer & Mark Sommer, 2013. "Energy Scenarios 2030. Model Projections of Energy Demand as a Basis to Quantify Austria's Greenhouse Gas Emissions," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46702, April.
    4. Aleksandra Kuzior & Aleksy Kwilinski & Ihor Hroznyi, 2021. "The Factorial-Reflexive Approach to Diagnosing the Executors’ and Contractors’ Attitude to Achieving the Objectives by Energy Supplying Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Karen Turner, 2013. ""Rebound" Effects from Increased Energy Efficiency: A Time to Pause and Reflect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    6. Zhen, Wei & Qin, Quande & Miao, Lu, 2023. "The greenhouse gas rebound effect from increased energy efficiency across China's staple crops," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Dunlop, Tessa & Giampietro, Mario, 2020. "Fallacies of energy efficiency indicators: Recognizing the complexity of the metabolic pattern of the economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    8. Kummitha, Rama Krishna Reddy & Crutzen, Nathalie, 2019. "Smart cities and the citizen-driven internet of things: A qualitative inquiry into an emerging smart city," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 44-53.
    9. Lemoine, Derek, 2020. "General equilibrium rebound from energy efficiency innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    10. Johannes Stübinger & Lucas Schneider, 2020. "Understanding Smart City—A Data-Driven Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.
    11. Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko, 2016. "City-as-a-Platform: The Rise of Participatory Innovation Platforms in Finnish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-31, September.
    12. Haq, Gary & Weiss, Martin, 2016. "CO2 labelling of passenger cars in Europe: Status, challenges, and future prospects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 324-335.
    13. Tina Ringenson & Peter Arnfalk & Anna Kramers & Liridona Sopjani, 2018. "Indicators for Promising Accessibility and Mobility Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    14. Kenneth Gillingham & David Rapson & Gernot Wagner, 2016. "The Rebound Effect and Energy Efficiency Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 68-88.
    15. Brij B. Gupta & Akshat Gaurav & Prabin Kumar Panigrahi, 2023. "Analysis of the development of sustainable entrepreneurship practices through knowledge and smart innovative based education system," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 923-940, June.
    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. Hediger, Cécile, 2023. "The more kilometers, the merrier? The rebound effect and its welfare implications in private mobility," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    18. van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2012. "Effective climate-energy solutions, escape routes and peak oil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 530-536.
    19. Tilman Santarius & Johanna Pohl & Steffen Lange, 2020. "Digitalization and the Decoupling Debate: Can ICT Help to Reduce Environmental Impacts While the Economy Keeps Growing?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-20, September.
    20. Antal, Miklós & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2014. "Re-spending rebound: A macro-level assessment for OECD countries and emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 585-590.

    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:envirb:v:47:y:2020:i:1:p:179-187. 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: .

    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.