The Knowledge Politics of Experimenting with Smart Urbanism

The aim of the joint research project to be conducted with partners from leading universities in Europe is to further develop a theoretical and empirical understanding of how smart urbanism experiments are re-shaping urban knowledge politics in European cities. The project proposes a symmetrical analysis of formal, corporate-led initiatives and informal, grassroots-led initiatives, as well as hybrid combinations. Together we refer to these as smart urbanism experiments. First, an interdisciplinary and comparative theoretical framework is developed on the knowledge politics of smart urbanism experimentation. This framework advances perspectives from critical urban geography, science and technology studies and socio-technical transitions literature. Second, the project will apply and test the framework in 8 European cities in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain to gain deep empirical understanding of contemporary (formal and informal) smart urbanism. Finally, this provides the opportunity to actively contribute to shaping contemporary debates on smart urbanism. The project supports cross-national, comparative analysis for refining and debating the initial theoretical framework in various settings.

Weitere Informationen: http://smartknowledgepolitics.com/
Ansprechpartner: PD Dr. Philipp Späth
Tel: +49(0)761 203-3725
Email: spaeth@envgov.uni-freiburg.de

Projektbeginn: 01.09.2016
Projektende: 31.08.2019

Freytag T

Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Institut für Umweltsozialwissenschaften und Geographie

Schreiberstraße 20
79098 Freiburg i. Br.

Telefon: 203 - 3563
Email: humangeo@geographie.uni-freiburg.de
http://www.geographie.uni-freiburg.de/de

• Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)