The smart city discourse has gained increasing popularity within contemporary cities across the globe, mobilizing powerful economic actors and hegemonic public–private coalitions. This article argues that, in spite of the common wisdom within critical urban scholarship looking at the smart city as a policy framework aligned with the interests of powerful private and public actors such as multinational corporations and the state, the smart city model of local economic regeneration and governance goes beyond this, nurturing a process of capitalist variegation, which comprises multinational high-tech firms but is not limited to them. Thanks to its adaptability, the smart city narrative can be applied to a variety of strategies of economic revitalization, as showed by the case of Turin in Italy analysed here: a constellation of initiatives including start-up innovative firms, infrastructure projects and the social economy. The article argues that this variegated economics of the smart city offers still unexplored opportunities for a ‘potential politics’ of smart urbanism, aimed at appropriating the gains of technology for a future of urban social justice.

The Variegated Economics and the Potential Politics of the Smart City

ROSSI, UGO
2016-01-01

Abstract

The smart city discourse has gained increasing popularity within contemporary cities across the globe, mobilizing powerful economic actors and hegemonic public–private coalitions. This article argues that, in spite of the common wisdom within critical urban scholarship looking at the smart city as a policy framework aligned with the interests of powerful private and public actors such as multinational corporations and the state, the smart city model of local economic regeneration and governance goes beyond this, nurturing a process of capitalist variegation, which comprises multinational high-tech firms but is not limited to them. Thanks to its adaptability, the smart city narrative can be applied to a variety of strategies of economic revitalization, as showed by the case of Turin in Italy analysed here: a constellation of initiatives including start-up innovative firms, infrastructure projects and the social economy. The article argues that this variegated economics of the smart city offers still unexplored opportunities for a ‘potential politics’ of smart urbanism, aimed at appropriating the gains of technology for a future of urban social justice.
2016
4
3
337
353
Rossi, Ugo
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
the variegated economics and the potential politics of the smart city_Ugo Rossi.pdf

Accesso riservato

Tipo di file: PDF EDITORIALE
Dimensione 215.89 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
215.89 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1521381
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 69
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 56
social impact