This paper investigates the relationship between the smart city concept and its applications that are heavily technologically focused. Using principles derived from political economy, it denies the “smart city” approach as an idealist/utopian solution to urban problems and focuses on what the smart city is. We also maintain that the smart city cannot be considered an independent force in urbanization. While the benefits of technology are undeniable, such technologies are frequently applied prior to establishing appropriate social and legal controls. We therefore focus on the sociopolitical dimensions of the debate and do this by compounding the smart city ideology with two other social constructs, namely the concept of “sustainable development” on the one hand and “natural capitalism” on the other. In combination, these three ideologies are mutually dependent. They promote a concentration of private capital and are perpetuated as ideological structures focused on capital accumulation rather than equality and social democracy. Following these trends, much research on smart cities appears to be compromised, and a new ethical approach is required. In conclusion, we suggest that the smart city concept and its implementation must realign itself to this objective if democratic principles founded upon social justice are to be promoted.
This article develops a conceptual framework to examine the ancestry and evolution of urban forms within the context of cultural space and its social meaning. The framework is intended as a means for organizing and interpreting information, as was Rapoport’s schema, but differs in its perspective. Rapoport begins with design elements and links them to culture; we begin with culture as a process and connect it with contextual settings through which images and configurations are generated and positioned. The framework is applied to the cultural process in Bali by focusing on ideology, religion, and aesthetics, which are treated as the main “doors of perception.” This allows a connection with the concept of a social construction of space and highlights the importance of remediating social conflict with shared values. Examples are used to illustrate the relevance of the doors of perception to urban planning and design in completing the nexus to space–time meaning.
The term “slum” has been used in a derogatory fashion for at least half a century, since it bonds the occupant's existential state within the same category as their accommodation and wider neighborhood. There is arguably no nation free of slum development of some kind. So the concept has relative qualities that make generalized statements prone to error, even within the same slum environment. While statistical information on slums is vital, it stresses the material over the psychological, symbolic, and creative dimensions of human life. Recent research has focused on causes rather than effects. In the process the dignity of the poor is not undermined. The idea that the poor are not the source of their own misfortune is implicit in two singular dimensions. First, subaltern studies investigate the causes of slum development in the Global South, concentrating on systems and forms of oppression of subaltern classes. Second, the concept of development has come under serious scrutiny, particularly imperialism in its current manifestations. Critical to such understanding is the acceptance that scarcity is not determined absolutely but is socially manufactured. Hence the key to understanding slum development beyond the material lies in the construction of poverty, and of the global and national institutions that engender it.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.