The KNOWledge politics of experimentING with smart urbanism

Duration: 09/16 – 08/19

Across Europe, smart urbanism experiments are having an increasing influence on mainstream approaches to urban development. The KNOWledge Politics of ExperimentING with Smart Urbanism aims to assess the impact of these innovative approaches through a comparative analysis of conventional, corporate-led programmes with informal, bottom-up initiatives.

Focusing on eight cities in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, the research will bring a multidisciplinary team spanning urban geography, science and technology studies to develop a holistic framework to analyse different interventions across Europe. The fieldwork will also incorporate extensive fieldwork in case study areas with local stakeholders.

The findings will provide researchers, policy makers and urban communities with a valuable framework to gauge the implications of emerging design approaches for their cities, and also contribute to contemporary debates on smart urbanism.

Project Website

Simon Marvin (Principal Investigator, Director)
Adrian Smith (Professor of Technology and Society)

Partnerships with local communities and civil society organisations in case study cities.

Involvement of key urban decision makers across Europe in workshops and field research to maximise impact.

Dissemination of findings through a series of workshops and international public engagement activities.