Digitized utopias: Public service delivery in smart Stockholm

Abstract

Digitization, often performed under the heading of becoming “smart,” has been acknowledged as an approach to transform the public sector in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. But what are the specific ideals for future urban government in cities aiming to boost digitization of the public sector? This paper reports the results of an exploration of the smart city initiative in Stockholm. Using utopianism as a lens, the paper reveals the ageing population as a crucial driver of the smart city agenda. Data from interviews, document analyses and observations demonstrate the overall ambition to reduce public sector workload by digitizing and automating tasks, thereby cutting public resource use. This corresponds to findings within the broader digital government scholarship. However, the analysis also shows that becoming smart might create new, complex tasks for the public sector. The paper discusses how these developments might encourage widespread privatization of services currently performed by the public sector. Applying a utopian perspective allows for debate on the ambitions for future improvements embedded in smart city initiatives. Ultimately, such a lens can be applied to a vast range of urban issues, opening avenues for speculative insights into how future cities are envisioned.