Liam Heaphy

Smart cities, epistemic communities, advocacy coalitions and the `last mile' problem

Abstract We argue that the ideas, ideals and the rapid proliferation of smart city rhetoric and initiatives globally have been facilitated and promoted by three inter-related communities: (i) `urban technocrats; (ii) a smart cities `epistemic community; (iii) a wider `advocacy coalition. We examine their roles and the multiscale formation, and why despite their influence they encounter a `last mile problem; that is, smart city initiatives are yet to become fully mainstreamed. We illustrate this last mile problem through a discussion of plans to introduce smart lighting in Dublin.

From the accidental to articulated smart city: The creation and work of ‘Smart Dublin’

While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there have been relatively few studies that have examined the situated practices by which the smart city unfolds in specific places. In this paper, we draw on three sets of interviews (n = 114) and ethnographic fieldwork to chart the smart city ecosystem in Dublin, Ireland. We examine how the four city authorities have actively collaborated to frame a disparate and uncoordinated set of information and communication technology-led initiatives, what Dourish terms the ‘accidental smart city’, into an articulated vision of Dublin as a smart city. In particular, we focus on the work of ‘Smart Dublin’, a shared unit established to coordinate, manage and promote Dublin’s smart city initiatives and to drive new economic development opportunities centred on corporate interventions into urban management and living. Our analysis highlights the value of undertaking a holistic mapping of a smart city in formation, and the role of political and administrative geographies and specialist smart city units in shaping that formation.

The challenges of aligning the scales of urban climate science and climate policy in London and Manchester

The longevity of our urban buildings and streetscapes means that they will need to perform to a satisfactory standard in a context of climate change, with an increasing propensity for higher temperatures and extreme weather events accentuated by the urban heat island. Research funded to explore future climate in cities is frequently required to work directly with stakeholders to co-produce useful knowledge and tools. This study considers the relationship between a suite of projects linking future climate to the city, neighbourhood and building scales and the policy contexts of London and Manchester. It is contended that successful knowledge translation is aided by multi-scalar, strategic approaches to urban climate, and on the clear designation of the desired policy outcomes and supporting evidence and resources required. This, in turn, highlights the role of sustained government support for city-region spatial planning and building standards to facilitate successful translation into policies.

Urban controversies and the making of the social

On the one hand, architectural knowledge advances very rapidly, with new types of materials and technological innovations entering the field and multiplying architectural invention. On the other hand, urban experts, architects and engineers often debate publicly uncertain urban knowledge and technologies, risky plans and daring designs, polarising opinion - as witnessed on numerous blogs, citizen forums and architecture websites. This radical transformation in building technologies, in the reliance upon experts and in the expansion of architectural networks could have remained practically invisible were it not for the presence of another phenomenon: the digitalisation of architecture and the availability of enormous Internet databases. The digital technologies at our command provide us with abundant resources to follow architectural controversies.