The Smart City paradigm aims at resource efficient urban development by means of ICT implementation. Cities where we work and conduct our research are building Smart City strategies and that research institutions increasingly fund research into the development of smart infrastructure and. Smart Cities are considered a radical paradigm shift and motors of technological innovation: economic growth, higher quality of life, efficiency and risk control in the face of shrinking resources and impending climate change. This smartification is contrasted by increasing calls by civil society and urban social movements for more encompassing inclusion in decision-making. New urban actors are acquiring agency through situated knowledge, local expertise, social networking, and cooperation and collaboration skills. Behind these movements a seemingly parallel discourse to the “Smart City” paradigm is gaining ground – the discourse of the commons. Commons are defined as the combination of resources, people and practices: resources which are defined and managed by a group of people – of commoners – and a practice of commoning that looks after, takes care for and fosters this resource without exhausting it. Commoning is a practice that seems closer than any other practice to a sustainable way of life. Are these two discourses – the discourse on the Smart City and the discourse on the urban commons – irreconcilable antagonists or do they share a common ground which needs to be uncovered, developed and advocated. This question is by no means merely theoretical. It is also a very practical question which pertains to the management and distribution of the resources we depend on. It is a very political question as it demands negotiation and the taking of sides. And it is an ethical question in that it relates to how we respect and stand up for each other – our fellow human beings and also the non-human nature for which we are responsible. The essays and transcripts of the symposium “Beware of Smart People!” want to make a first contribution and stimulate future research in the field. Das Paradigma der Smart City ist Ausdruck der Ambition, Stadtentwicklung durch die Anwendung von IKT effizient und Ressourcen schonend zu gestalten. Städte in denen wir arbeiten und über die wir forschen entwickeln Smart City Strategien und Forschungsförderung spezialisiert sich zunehmend auf die Entwicklung „smarter“ Infrastrukturen und Steuerungsmechanismen. Smart Cities werden als radikaler Paradigmenwechsel gelesen und als Motoren technologischer Entwicklung: ökonomisches Wachstum, höhere Lebensqualität, Effizienz und Risikokontrolle angesichts abnehmender Ressourcen und drohenden Klimawandels. Dieser „Smartifizierung“ stehen die zunehmenden Forderungen zivilgesellschaftlicher Gruppen und sozialer Bewegungen für mehr und umfassendere Einbindung in Entscheidungsprozesse entgegen. Neue urbane Akteure werden zu Agenten, indem sie ihre Erfahrungswissen, ihre lokalen Kenntnisse, ihre sozialen Netzwerke und Fähigkeiten zur Kooperation und Kollaboration einbringen. Hintergrund diese Bewegungen ist ein augenscheinlich paralleler Diskurs zur „Smart City“ welcher sich zunehmend Gehör verschafft – der Diskurs über die Gemeingüter, die Commons. Commons werden definiert als das Zusammenspiel von Ressourcen, Menschen und Praktiken: Ressourcen, die von einer Gemeinschaft – den Commonern - definiert und verwaltet werden, und eine Praxis des Commoning, welche die Ressource schonend bewirtschaftet ohne sie zu verbrauchen. In diesem Sinne scheint Commoning eine Praxis, die einer nachhaltigen Lebensweise am nächsten kommt. Sind diese zwei Diskurse – der Diskurs über die Smart City und jener über die urbanen Gemeingüter – unvereinbare Antagonisten oder teilen sie Gemeinsamkeiten, welche offen gelegt, weiter entwickelt und verfechtet werden sollten? Diese Frage ist keineswegs eine rein theoretische. Sie ist eine sehr praktische Frage, da sie auf das die Verteilung und das Management lebenswichtiger Ressourcen zielt. Sie ist eine politische Frage, da sie Auseinandersetzung und Parteinahme einfordert. Und sie ist eine ethische Frage, denn sie fordert gegenseitigen Respekt und Einsatz ein – für unsere Mitmenschen sowie für die nichtmenschliche Natur für die wir Verantwortung tragen. Die Texte und Aufzeichnungen des Symposiums „Beware of Smart People!“ wollen hierzu einen Beitrag leisten und zukünftige Forschungsvorhaben stimulieren.

Smart cities promise to generate economic, social and environmental value through the seamless connection of urban services and infrastructure by digital technologies. However, there is scant evidence of how these activities can enhance social well-being and contribute to just and equitable communities. Smart and Sustainable Cities? Pipedreams, Practicalities and Possibilities provides one of the first examinations of how smart cities relate to environmental and social issues. It addresses the gap between the ambitious visions of smart cities and the actual practices on the ground by focusing on the social and environmental dimensions of real smart city initiatives as well as the possibilities they hold for creating more equitable and progressive cities. Through detailed analyses of case studies in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, India and China, the contributors describe the various ways that social and environmental issues are interpreted and integrated into smart city initiatives and actions. The findings point towards the need for more intentional engagement and collaboration with all urban stakeholders in the design, development and maintenance of smart cities to ensure that everyone benefits from the increasingly digitalised urban environments of the twenty-first century. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Local Environment.

Provides comprehensive coverage of major topics in urban and regional studies Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Anthony Orum, this definitive reference work covers central and emergent topics in the field, through an examination of urban and regional conditions and variation across the world. It also provides authoritative entries on the main conceptual tools used by anthropologists, sociologists, geographers, and political scientists in the study of cities and regions. Among such concepts are those of place and space; geographical regions; the nature of power and politics in cities; urban culture; and many others. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies captures the character of complex urban and regional dynamics across the globe, including timely entries on Latin America, Africa, India and China. At the same time, it contains illuminating entries on some of the current concepts that seek to grasp the essence of the global world today, such as those of Friedmann and Sassen on ‘global cities’. It also includes discussions of recent economic writings on cities and regions such as those of Richard Florida. Comprised of over 450 entries on the most important topics and from a range of theoretical perspectives Features authoritative entries on topics ranging from gender and the city to biographical profiles of figures like Frank Lloyd Wright Takes a global perspective with entries providing coverage of Latin America and Africa, India and China, and, the US and Europe Includes biographies of central figures in urban and regional studies, such as Doreen Massey, Peter Hall, Neil Smith, and Henri Lefebvre The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies is an indispensable reference for students and researchers in urban and regional studies, urban sociology, urban geography, and urban anthropology.

The era of the smart city has arrived. Only a decade ago, the promise of optimising urban services through the widespread application of information and communication technologies was largely a techno-utopian fantasy. Today, smart urbanisation is occurring via urban projects, policies and visions in hundreds of cities around the globe. Inside Smart Cities provides real-world evidence on how local authorities, small and medium enterprises, corporations, utility providers and civil society groups are creating smart cities at the neighbourhood, city and regional scales. Twenty three empirically detailed case studies from the Global North and South – ranging from Cape Town, Stockholm and Abu Dhabi to Philadelphia, Hong Kong and Santiago – illustrate the multiple and diverse incarnations of smart urbanism. The contributors draw on ideas from urban studies, geography, urban planning, science and technology studies and innovation studies to go beyond the rhetoric of technological innovation and reveal the political, social and physical implications of digitalising the built environment. Collectively, the practices of smart urbanism raise fundamental questions about the sustainability, liveability and resilience of cities in the future. The findings are relevant to academics, students, practitioners and urban stakeholders who are questioning how urban innovation relates to politics and place.

This book contains the proceedings of the Second International Conference on Integrated Sciences and Technologies (IMDC-IST-2021). Where held on 7th–9th Sep 2021 in Sakarya, Turkey. This conference was organized by University of Bradford, UK and Southern Technical University, Iraq. The papers in this conference were collected in a proceedings book entitled: Proceedings of the second edition of the International Multi-Disciplinary Conference Theme: “Integrated Sciences and Technologies” (IMDC-IST-2021). The presentation of such a multi-discipline conference provides a lot of exciting insights and new understanding on recent issues in terms of Green Energy, Digital Health, Blended Learning, Big Data, Meta-material, Artificial-Intelligence powered applications, Cognitive Communications, Image Processing, Health Technologies, 5G Communications. Referring to the argument, this conference would serve as a valuable reference for future relevant research activities. The committee acknowledges that the success of this conference are closely intertwined by the contributions from various stakeholders. As being such, we would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the keynote speakers, invited speakers, paper presenters, and participants for their enthusiastic support in joining the second edition of the International Multi-Disciplinary Conference Theme: “Integrated Sciences and Technologies” (IMDC-IST-2021). We are convinced that the contents of the study from various papers are not only encouraged productive discussion among presenters and participants but also motivate further research in the relevant subject. We appreciate for your enthusiasm to attend our conference and share your knowledge and experience. Your input was important in ensuring the success of our conference. Finally, we hope that this conference serves as a forum for learning in building togetherness and academic networks. Therefore, we expect to see you all at the next IMDC-IST.

Exploring the Spatiality of the City across Cultural Texts: Narrating Spaces, Reading Urbanity explores the narrative formations of urbanity from an interdisciplinary perspective. Within the framework of the “spatial turn,” contributors from disciplines ranging from geography and history to literary and media studies theorize narrative constructions of the city and cities, and analyze relevant examples from a variety of discourses, media, and cities. Subdivided into six sections, the book explores the interactions of city and text—as well as other media—and the conflicting narratives that arise in these interactions. Offering case studies that discuss specific aspects of the narrative construction of Berlin and London, the text also considers narratives of urban discontinuity and their theoretical implications. Ultimately, this volume captures the narratological, artistic, material, social, and performative possibilities inherent in spatial representations of the city.

Despite an unprecedented presence of digital technologies in the everyday, a clear urban/non-urban divide in accessing and effectively using the internet remains. This divide is identifiable not only in the Global South—perceived as peripheral—but also in the Global North—regarded as advanced and the motor of technological development. Such a phenomenon suggests the emergence and endurance of socio-technological peripheries, places where socio-spatial inequalities are reinforced by unjust access to the internet. To understand how such peripherality is manifested and challenged in rurban settings—where the rural and the urban mingle and clash—the first part of this book draws from dependency theory and the decolonial thinking to discuss the impacts of uneven production, access, and use of digital technology. The second part draws on Actor-Network Theory as a methodological frame to understand the recursive entwinement of the everyday and the use of the internet in three villages: two in Brazil and one in the UK. By bringing to the fore challenges that cross North-South divides, Digital Peripheries proposes an open theory of the connected rurban as a framework that addresses and accommodates the specificities of these communities in the twenty-first century.

In recent years, the world witnessed the rise of big digital platforms like Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber. The emerging research field of platform urbanism focuses on these developments and concentrates on platforms and their impact on everyday life in urban space. This book introduces a novel approach to the problems of accessibility and opacity in this area of research. In order to explore the black box platform urbanism more thoroughly, different participatory mapping approaches of critical cartography are examined. The potential of so-called counter-mapping practices and related approaches for a deeper exploration of platform urbanism is discussed. The author thus establishes the nexus between participatory mapping approaches of critical cartography and their application potential for platform urbanism and provides numerous starting points for future research.

Digital technologies promise efficiency and comfort, but the smoothness of platform services relies on the hidden social labour of those who keep the gig economy running. This book presents a comparative ethnography of young men making a living through digital technologies: selling mobile airtime in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and app-based delivery riders in Berlin, Germany. These case studies explore the significance of symbolic capital in urban youth's social existence and organisation of livelihood in the digital economy, and the technological mechanisms producing a new form of urban precarity. Globalized urban precarity in Berlin and Abidjan puts forward an original comparative approach to develop a global urban sociology for the digital era. It provides an innovative analytical toolbox that decentres discussions of precarity from the standard of a normal employment contract. With its focus on symbolic capital, the ethnography shows the consequences of the proliferating gig economy for status struggles among urban youth, and carefully embeds the densification of software and services into the socio-material relations on which these new urban infrastructures are built.

As cities continue to grow with advancing technologies, the spatial and temporal gaps between rural and urban areas are shrinking, thereby requiring the sectors to interact with each other. While the prospect is to develop each area without hampering the newfound synergy between them, there are still many barriers and concerns that hinder this inevitable urban-rural relationship. The Handbook of Research on Urban-Rural Synergy Development Through Housing, Landscape, and Tourism is a pivotal reference source that focuses on the applications and challenges of creating cooperation between urban and rural areas along various fields. While highlighting topics including suburbanization, weekend-residence zones, and homeostasis, this publication is ideally designed for architects, sector managers, region developers, urban planners, urban developers, construction managers, urban studies professionals, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on lessening the urban-rural gap in both global and local contexts.