IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v61y2024i1p112-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dialectical approach to unpacking knowledge-making for digital urban democracy: A critical case of Helsinki-based e-participatory budgeting

Author

Listed:
  • Yu-Shan Tseng

    (University of Helsinki, Finland)

  • Christoph Becker

    (Independent Researcher, Belgium)

  • Ida Roikonen

    (University of Helsinki, Finland)

Abstract

This article investigates how OmaStadi, a Finnish platform for digital participatory budgeting, legitimises certain urban knowledge and experiences to receive public resources from the City of Helsinki. Using a quali-quantitative critical case study that combines quantitative data analysis, interviews and participatory observation, we advocate a dialectical approach for unpacking OmaStadi’s potential and limitations for democracy. It represents a socio-technical assemblage of knowledge-making for digital urban democracy in (and beyond) the post-welfare urban context. On the one hand, OmaStadi enforces epistemic enclosures that restrict the scale, object and temporality of urban knowledge that is to be considered legitimate in decision-making based on simple majoritarianism. Such enclosures lead to an individualistic and aggregated democracy. On the other hand, OmaStadi fosters an epistemic opening for democracy when wider publics join to form collective knowledge about ongoing urban struggles against privatisation and the decay of heritage. Our argument goes beyond binary and techno-deterministic analyses of digital knowledge-making and participation to build on emergent studies of digital urban democracy by discussing the democratic potential of cities in the age of platformisation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu-Shan Tseng & Christoph Becker & Ida Roikonen, 2024. "Dialectical approach to unpacking knowledge-making for digital urban democracy: A critical case of Helsinki-based e-participatory budgeting," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(1), pages 112-129, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:61:y:2024:i:1:p:112-129
    DOI: 10.1177/00420980231175247
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420980231175247
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00420980231175247?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. Toni Ahlqvist & Sami Moisio, 2014. "Neoliberalisation in a Nordic State: From Cartel Polity towards a Corporate Polity in Finland," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 21-55, January.
    2. Postigo, Antonio, 2011. "Accounting for Outcomes in Participatory Urban Governance through State–Civil-society Synergies," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 48(9), pages 1945-1967.
    3. Jathan Sadowski, 2021. "Who owns the future city? Phases of technological urbanism and shifts in sovereignty," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(8), pages 1732-1744, June.
    4. Antonio Postigo, 2011. "Accounting for Outcomes in Participatory Urban Governance Through State-Civil-Society Synergies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(9), pages 1945-1967, July.
    5. Nancy Odendaal, 2021. "Everyday urbanisms and the importance of place: Exploring the elements of the emancipatory smart city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 639-654, February.
    6. Gianpaolo Baiocchi & Ernesto Ganuza, 2014. "Participatory Budgeting as if Emancipation Mattered," Politics & Society, , vol. 42(1), pages 29-50, March.
    7. Adrian Smith & Pedro Prieto Martín, 2021. "Going Beyond the Smart City? Implementing Technopolitical Platforms for Urban Democracy in Madrid and Barcelona," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1-2), pages 311-330, April.
    8. Greig Charnock & Hug March & Ramon Ribera-Fumaz, 2021. "From smart to rebel city? Worlding, provincialising and the Barcelona Model," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 581-600, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Klimovský Daniel & Secinaro Silvana & Baláž Martina Benzoni & Brescia Valerio, 2024. "Participatory Budgeting as a Democratic and Managerial Innovation: Recent Trends and Avenues for Further Research," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 52-71.
    2. Catalina Ortiz, 2024. "Writing the Latin American city: Trajectories of urban scholarship," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(3), pages 399-425, February.
    3. Ryan Burns & Victoria Fast & Anthony Levenda & Byron Miller, 2021. "Smart cities: Between worlding and provincialising," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 461-470, February.
    4. Matthew Cook & Andrew Karvonen, 2024. "Urban planning and the knowledge politics of the smart city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(2), pages 370-382, February.
    5. Fernando Fernandez-Monge & Sarah Barns & Rainer Kattel & Francesca Bria, 2024. "Reclaiming data for improved city governance: Barcelona’s New Data Deal," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(7), pages 1291-1307, May.
    6. Aline Suter & Lars Kaiser & Martin Dušek & Florin Hasler & Simone Tappert, 2024. "Digital Rights to the City: Local Practices and Negotiations of Urban Space on Decidim," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9.
    7. Anthea van der Hoogen & Ifeoluwapo Fashoro & Andre P. Calitz & Lamla Luke, 2024. "A Digital Transformation Framework for Smart Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-28, February.
    8. Bipashyee Ghosh & Saurabh Arora, 2022. "Smart as (un)democratic? The making of a smart city imaginary in Kolkata, India," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(1), pages 318-339, February.
    9. Sami Moisio & Ugo Rossi, 2020. "The start-up state: Governing urbanised capitalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(3), pages 532-552, May.
    10. Capaccioli, Andrea & Poderi, Giacomo & Bettega, Mela & D'Andrea, Vincenzo, 2017. "Exploring participatory energy budgeting as a policy instrument to foster energy justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 621-630.
    11. Pooja Thomas, 2024. "Redesigning the relationship between heritage and city: Insights from the Gandhi Heritage Portal, Ahmedabad," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(6), pages 1111-1126, May.
    12. Marika Kettunen & Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola, 2022. "Differential inclusion through education: Reforms and spatial justice in Finnish education policy," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(1), pages 50-68, February.
    13. 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.
    14. Julien Vrydagh, 2022. "Measuring the impact of consultative citizen participation: reviewing the congruency approaches for assessing the uptake of citizen ideas," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(1), pages 65-88, March.
    15. Berliner, Daniel, 2023. "Information Processing in Participatory Governance," SocArXiv snerh, Center for Open Science.
    16. 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.
    17. A. Szczepańska & M. Zagroba & K. Pietrzyk, 2022. "Participatory Budgeting as a Method for Improving Public Spaces in Major Polish Cities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 231-252, July.
    18. Clara Irazábal & Paola Jirón, 2021. "Latin American smart cities: Between worlding infatuation and crawling provincialising," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 507-534, February.
    19. Noora Pyyry & Heikki Sirviö, 2024. "Landscape of competition: Education, economisation and young people’s wellbeing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 491-507, March.
    20. Kerry Bobbins & Federico Caprotti & Jiska de Groot & Whitney Pailman & Mascha Moorlach & Hendrik Schloemann & Alex Densmore & Kimenthrie Finlay & Ellen Fischat & Siseko Siwali & Joslyn Links, 2024. "Smart and disruptive infrastructures: Re-building knowledge on the informal city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(1), pages 165-179, January.

    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:61:y:2024:i:1:p:112-129. 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.