Digital Engagement and Citizenship in the Smart City

Cities globally are being (re)imagined as “smart cities”, with digital technologies offering opportunities for innovations in city management, civic engagement and place making. Local-level innovation is occurring idiosyncratically and independently across the world.

This project focuses on ‘smart citizenship’, by contributing to the development of an international evidence base. It seeks to explore four questions:

a) Can we map the current global landscape of citizens’ engagement through digital deliberation?

b) Are initiatives citizen-led - driven by the question ‘what do we want technology to do for us?’ – or driven by the priorities of local elites and
urban managers?

c) How do existing initiatives address issues of participation and exclusion? Do they seek to promote reflexive governance? Is there rigorous evidence evaluating effectiveness?

d) What lessons can we learn from existing initiatives regarding barriers and facilitators to promoting ‘smart citizenship’?