Smart City as Participatory Environment

Abstract

A certain frenzy is still felt around the idea of what a Smart City is: for some, it is a concern, for others it is an open field of huge possibilities. Stemmed from the ubiquitousness of immersive computing in urban environments, and implemented by the coalescence between several media, a Smart City seems to promise aggregated efficiency among equipment, structures and individuals. On the flip side, a Smart City simultaneously appears to limit citizenship to a series of pre-established, induced or monitored movements, announcing a kind of voluntary surveillance. Inspired by some works, this paper attempts to provide a reflection upon the complex apparatus that a Smart City can be. Making use of an archaeological exercise, it addresses the community and its engagement in placemaking. As a network of people, architectures, tools and programmes a city has always been an informational field and the susceptible environment for commands, therefore of control. A Smart City might not be an invention, but rather the transformation of the old structures with new means and materialities. It is emerging as a result of the diffusion of digital technology in the physical space. Hence the question does not relay on the technology deployed, but rather in the programmatic character of the systems it installs. After all, in technology may lie the way to raise a politically active and sensitive community.