Smart city visions: pathways to participatory planning in two American cities

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to evaluate the use of community visioning in Montgomery, Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee, as each municipality seeks to become a globally competitive 21st century smart city while also fostering participatory and inclusive planning processes. Design/methodology/approach This research is qualitative, drawing upon discourse analysis of relevant mass media and public documents to map the consultation process and identify the key themes and challenges arising in the two visioning projects. Findings Montgomery and Chattanooga are committed to using participatory visioning to generate inclusive pathways to smart city status by 2040. Each used the local utility company as the key platform to enable a smart city because of each company’s inclusive demographic reach and historical status. The two cities are at different stages of the smart city trajectory and each faces ongoing challenges in ensuring that the benefits of smart city development reach beyond elites to include communities across racial and economic lines. To date, the planning process in each city is more accurately classified as a responsive community visioning rather than participatory. Research limitations/implications This is a pilot assessment of community visioning in Montgomery and Chattanooga. Implementation of each vision is ongoing and further research is needed to illuminate how each city meets ongoing challenges and opportunities, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and its flow-on economic and social shocks. Originality/value The value of this work lies in the comparison of community visioning across two mid-sized and diverse American cities in the Southern region that must compete with larger and more established technology-hubs in both the USA and globally for investment, amenities and human capital.

What do people want in a smart city? Exploring the stakeholders’ opinions, priorities and perceived barriers in a medium-sized city in the United States

“…Particularly, the projects preferred by citizens are not in line with those desired by other stakeholders, as they prioritize the projects which improve the city public services, in contrast with the privatization of the urban space in the US, supported to a greater extent by entrepreneurs and government officials (Hefetz & Warner, 2007). This result is even more relevant as previous research suggest that the market-based development model implemented in Chattanooga -and other medium-sized cities in the US-is in practice exacerbating the racial cleavages already existing in the city (Fletcher, 2020). This negative impact could be mitigated by including citizen participation mechanisms in the smart city policymaking process as suggested above (Panagiotopoulou & Stratigea, 2017), as well as by implementing holistic governance models such as the one proposed by Castelnovo et al (2016).…”

“…Located in the Hamilton County, bordering Georgia, the city was home to 182,799 people in 2019 (US Census Bureau, 2021) (see Figure 1). We purposely selected Chattanooga as it can be viewed as an example of how smart urbanism and smart city policies can improve cities' livability (Fletcher, 2020). In the 1970s, Chattanooga was considered the 'dirtiest city in America' due to unchecked industry (Lundy, 2019).…”

Effective use of smart cities in crisis cases: A systematic review of the literature

“…Through the use of smart technologies, cities can increase their economic prosperity, community responsiveness and public amenities. Investing in smart technologies such as Fiber Optic networks provides a secure platform for smart projects related to public safety, emergency evacuation simulations and efficient transportation (Fletcher, 2020). Reliable infrastructure is necessary for a city to be able to leverage technology and smart solutions.…”

Equitable, inclusive and sustainable public transit mobility through mobility on demand? A critical perspective

“…Data suggest that former Black residents are moving to areas around and outside of Chattanooga, which are more affordable for working-class families (Chilton, 2022). These areas, however, lack a major resource-public transit (Fletcher, 2020).…”