Smart City Toronto: Extraction, Enclosure, Rentier Capitalism

IF 0.8 Q3 COMMUNICATION

Canadian Journal of Communication Pub Date : 2022-05-09 DOI:10.22230/cjc.2022v47n2a4185

Barbara L. Jenkins

引用次数: 1

Abstract

Background: The failure of Sidewalk Labs’ smart city initiative in Toronto provides insight into the imperatives and contradictions of platform capitalism. Analysis: A political economy analysis reveals why this Alphabet subsidiary sought to expand the project beyond the parameters of the initial plan, stepping into a vacuum created by neoliberal forms of governance. Ultimately, the company’s expansionism resulted in a political backlash that scuttled the plan. Conclusion and implications: This case study highlights the political contradictions of platform capitalism, emphasizing the diversification of corporate strategies characterized by the extraction of data, enclosure of platforms, and accumulation of rentier profits.

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智慧城市多伦多:抽取、圈地、食利者资本主义

背景：Sidewalk Labs在多伦多的智能城市计划的失败让我们深入了解了平台资本主义的必要性和矛盾。分析：一项政治经济学分析揭示了为什么这家Alphabet子公司试图将项目扩展到最初计划的参数之外，从而陷入新自由主义治理形式造成的真空。最终，该公司的扩张主义导致了政治上的强烈反对，破坏了该计划。结论和启示：本案例研究突出了平台资本主义的政治矛盾，强调了企业战略的多样化，其特征是数据的提取、平台的封闭和寻租利润的积累。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Canadian Journal of Communication COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

0.80

自引率

20.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The objective of the Canadian Journal of Communication is to publish Canadian research and scholarship in the field of communication studies. In pursuing this objective, particular attention is paid to research that has a distinctive Canadian flavour by virtue of choice of topic or by drawing on the legacy of Canadian theory and research. The purview of the journal is the entire field of communication studies as practiced in Canada or with relevance to Canada. The Canadian Journal of Communication is a print and online quarterly. Back issues are accessible with a 12 month delay as Open Access with a CC-BY-NC-ND license. Access to the most recent year''s issues, including the current issue, requires a subscription. Subscribers now have access to all issues online from Volume 1, Issue 1 (1974) to the most recently published issue.