IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/decisn/v44y2017i2d10.1007_s40622-017-0152-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The “Sustainable” in smart cities: ignoring the importance of urban ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Seema Mundoli

    (Azim Premji University)

  • Hita Unnikrishnan

    (Azim Premji University
    Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment
    Manipal University)

  • Harini Nagendra

    (Azim Premji University)

Abstract

This article argues that the smart city model proposed for an urbanising India ignores key elements of environmental sustainability. Urban green spaces in cities are common pool resources (CPRs) or urban commons that provide provisioning, supporting, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. However, the smart cities model disregards the provisioning services of urban CPRs that are critical for livelihoods and subsistence of urban marginalised groups. By prioritising certain uses, such as recreational, over others the model results in exclusion of urban poor from the commons. The paper highlights the multiple uses of urban commons, with emphasis on the provisioning services that support lives and livelihoods of urban residents. Alienation from CPRs, both by denying physical access and by erosion of cultural links, is also highlighted as a major concern. We urge a systematic reconceptualisation of urban sustainability, and towards a multi-faceted use-value of urban ecosystems, to develop both ecologically and socio-culturally smart cities.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:decisn:v:44:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s40622-017-0152-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s40622-017-0152-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40622-017-0152-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40622-017-0152-x?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
    ---><---

    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. 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. 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.
    3. Divya Gopal & Harini Nagendra, 2014. "Vegetation in Bangalore’s Slums: Boosting Livelihoods, Well-Being and Social Capital," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-15, April.
    4. Niepukhrie Tepa & Sonali Anusree Patro & Sujaya Rathi & Shrimoyee Bhattacharya, 2015. "Reconceptualising Smart Cities: A Reference Framework for India," Working Papers id:7377, eSocialSciences.
    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. Alberto Vanolo, 2014. "Smartmentality: The Smart City as Disciplinary Strategy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(5), pages 883-898, April.
    7. Vito Albino & Umberto Berardi & Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2015. "Smart Cities: Definitions, Dimensions, Performance, and Initiatives," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 3-21, January.
    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. Vanessa Thomas & Ding Wang & Louise Mullagh & Nick Dunn, 2016. "Where’s Wally? In Search of Citizen Perspectives on the Smart City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, February.
    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. Oleg Dashkevych & Boris A. Portnov, 2022. "Criteria for Smart City Identification: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-34, April.
    2. Daniel Neves Schmitz Gonçalves & Renata Albergaria de Mello Bandeira & Mariane Gonzalez da Costa & George Vasconcelos Goes & Tássia Faria de Assis & Márcio de Almeida D’Agosto & Isabela Rocha Pombo Le, 2020. "A Multitier Approach to Estimating the Energy Efficiency of Urban Passenger Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Arpan Kumar Kar & Shweta Kumari Choudhary & P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan, 2023. "How can we improve tourism service experiences: insights from multi-stakeholders’ interaction," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 50(1), pages 73-89, March.
    4. Unnikrishnan, Hita, 2018. "Thinking Beyond Fairy Lights and Fountains: Lessons from the Waterscape of Bengaluru," Ecology, Economy and Society - the INSEE Journal, Indian Society of Ecological Economics (INSEE), vol. 1(02), July.
    5. María Teresa Bastanchury-López & Carmen De-Pablos-Heredero, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis on Smart Cities Related to Land Use," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-21, November.
    6. Haarstad, Håvard & Wathne, Marikken W., 2019. "Are smart city projects catalyzing urban energy sustainability?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 918-925.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    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. Ebru Tekin Bilbil, 2017. "The Operationalizing Aspects of Smart Cities: the Case of Turkey’s Smart Strategies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(3), pages 1032-1048, September.
    6. Johannes Stübinger & Lucas Schneider, 2020. "Understanding Smart City—A Data-Driven Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.
    7. Haarstad, Håvard & Wathne, Marikken W., 2019. "Are smart city projects catalyzing urban energy sustainability?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 918-925.
    8. 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.
    9. Alan-Miguel Valdez & Matthew Cook & Stephen Potter, 2018. "Roadmaps to utopia: Tales of the smart city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(15), pages 3385-3403, November.
    10. 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.
    11. Mauricio Marrone & Mara Hammerle, 2018. "Smart Cities: A Review and Analysis of Stakeholders’ Literature," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 60(3), pages 197-213, June.
    12. Desdemoustier, Jonathan & Crutzen, Nathalie & Giffinger, Rudolf, 2019. "Municipalities' understanding of the Smart City concept: An exploratory analysis in Belgium," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 129-141.
    13. Camboim, Guilherme Freitas & Zawislak, Paulo Antônio & Pufal, Nathália Amarante, 2019. "Driving elements to make cities smarter: Evidences from European projects," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 154-167.
    14. 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.
    15. Li Zhao & Zhi-ying Tang & Xin Zou, 2019. "Mapping the Knowledge Domain of Smart-City Research: A Bibliometric and Scientometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-28, November.
    16. 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.
    17. Isara Khanjanasthiti & Kayalvizhi Sundarraj Chandrasekar & Bhishna Bajracharya, 2021. "Making the Gold Coast a Smart City—An Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, September.
    18. Barba-Sánchez, Virginia & Arias-Antúnez, Enrique & Orozco-Barbosa, Luis, 2019. "Smart cities as a source for entrepreneurial opportunities: Evidence for Spain," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    19. Leslie Quitzow & Friederike Rohde, 2022. "Imagining the smart city through smart grids? Urban energy futures between technological experimentation and the imagined low-carbon city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(2), pages 341-359, February.
    20. Lill Sarv & Ralf-Martin Soe, 2021. "Transition towards Smart City: The Case of Tallinn," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.

    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:spr:decisn:v:44:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s40622-017-0152-x. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.