Today, we have a number of debates surrounding what a smart city is. We can conceptualise the Smart City as a set of complex socio-ecological, technological and economic processes, which are not only infused by, but also reshape, power relations in the city. A catch all phrase to accommodate for rapid and new waves of technological innovations in daily urban life. To do so, requires researchers to go beyond its current technocratic and technological definitions to become an inclusive concept.
Through this research seminar series, we would like to question if and how institutional visions and the needs of society align when ideas of smart city and society come together. To go beyond the purely data driven and technocratic approach, this project develops and implements an ethnographic mapping of societal needs, community questions, current initiatives, and institutional goals.
Currently the project looks at the region of Eindhoven. Branded as an innovative, and a “Smart Region”, the visibility of the region’s innovative character (social, design, etc.) and technological expertise (start-ups clusters) is growing. While the push towards aligning societal participation and technology is evident in various institutional visions, through this work we ask the question ‘how are society’s needs being addressed and identified’? By looking at the neighborhoods of Woenselse Heide and Temple we look to reflect on how Smart City discourses and practices might be intentionally or unintentionally mobilised to depoliticise urban development and environmental management.
Project team 2017:
Rania Al Djejab, Sjoerd van Eijden, Madeline Prickett, Guus Wijfje, Marijke Voermans
Project team 2016:
Vera Awadis, Sevgi Baysal Balci, Herbert Born, Amir Emanuel, Michel Fidan, Vivianne Heijkoop, Sophie Rijswijk, Kurosh Tondashti
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Linda Vlassenrood, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, and Ellen Zoete for the opportunity to collaborate with the New Institute on their “The State of Eindhoven” project. The effort would not have been possible without the support of the municipality of Eindhoven, particularly Vera Winthagen. The various actors and co-ordinators in the neighbourhoods of Woenselse Heide and Temple, and most importantly the forty residents who gave us their time, knowledge and impressions of the transformations, opportunities, and challenges within the neighbourhoods.
Disclaimer
This website is run by master students from TU Eindhoven, and the content is curated by Sukanya Krishnamurthy.
