From the “smart city” to the “smart metropolis”? Building resilience in the urban periphery

Abstract

The 'smart city' has risen to global prominence as an urban planning and development strategy over the past two decades. As a broad but contested toolkit of technological services and policy interventions aimed at improving the efficacy and efficiency of urban systems, the 'smart city' is subject to several pressing critiques. This paper acknowledges these concerns, but recognizes the potential of 'urban intelligence' to enhance the resiliency of metropolitan areas. As such, we focus on an under-researched dimension of smart city urbanism; its application in peripheral urban areas. The paper, first, introduces a threefold typology of: (1) geographic; (2) hard (material); and (3) soft (social) urban peripherality. Second, it reviews the concept of urban resilience and considers how its central characteristics can inform the objectives and implementation of the hard and soft infrastructures of 'smart city' planning. Six European smart city plans are assessed via a qualitative content analysis, to identify the target of smart city actions; the characteristics of urban resilience mobilized; and the spatial focus of planned interventions. The comparative analysis reveals a variegated set of smart city approaches. Notably, 'smart' actions aimed at enhancing social innovation are the most common type of intervention, while overall there remains a strong tendency for smart urbanism to focus on the urban core. We conclude by calling for a research agenda addressing smartness in, of, and for, peripheral urban spaces and communities.

Revisiting inclusion in smart cities: infrastructural hybridization and the institutionalization of citizen participation in Bengaluru’s peripheries

“…By reserving most of the financial resources for the development of the city centre, Bengaluru's smart city plans align with the trend discussed by De Falco et al (2019), who argue that smart city development most often prioritizes city cores over peripheries. Likewise, of the six other smart cities in Karnataka, only one city, Belagavi, focuses its ABD on the periphery.…”

“…First, a recurring practice is the spatial prioritization of state infrastructure facilities for the city's core over the periphery (De Falco, Angelidou, & Addie, 2019;Shaw, 2017). Whereas Bengaluru's city-core is relatively well-serviced by infrastructure facilities that are provided by state institutions, facilities for running water, sewerage and street lighting are often inadequate or missing in the peripheries.…”

Scope for Virtual Tourism in the Times of COVID-19 in Select African Destinations

“…The paper uses the pragmatic research approach, which is dominantly qualitative in investigating the applicability of virtual tourism in building resilience in the tourism sector (Creswell 2014). Documentary analysis of books, journals, websites and newspaper articles assists in the enhancement of reliability of the paper (de Falco et al 2019). Data obtained was then processed into information and analysed through the use of thematic content analysis.…”

Cultural Heritage in Smart City Environments: The Update

“…Broadly speaking, smart cities represent an innovation-driven development paradigm that gained increasing attention during the past decade . Smart cities utilize both human capabilities and technological means to improve the innovation capacity of individuals, institutions and services in urbanized environments, where the need to drive sustainable and inclusive development is particularly important Angelidou 2019, De Falco, Angelidou, andAddie 2018). To this end, smart cities can and should capitalize on local assets and strengths and give prominence to local culture and traditions, while responding to local challenges (Angelidou 2017, Angelidou and and opening the way for sustainable development (Dixon 2018).…”