A tale of two cities: comparing “smart city” approaches

Vanessa Thomas, Ding Wang Marketing materials and business
communications about the ‘smart city’ seem to be everywhere, to the
point that ‘smart city’ rhetoric is verging on being an invasive
species. But behind the scenes of the snazzy buzzwords and
futuristic photos, many city governments are working to adopt,
adapt, and implement new and existing digital systems to serve city
residents best. In this presentation, we discuss research about
public administration of smart city projects in Toronto, Canada,
and London, England. We draw on publicly available documentation as
well as interviews with key influencers of government
strategies—including policy makers, academics, and private sector
designers—to dissect how and why city administrators adopted and
implemented “smart” technologies in their cities. The presentation
describes some of the organisational issues and policy challenges
that can occur while deploying “smart” technologies. It highlights
some of the complex material, infrastructural, political, social,
and environmental challenges that have emerged thus far in London
and Toronto’s smart city projects, and challenges some of the
simplistic rhetoric about the benefits of “smart” cities and
“smart” technologies. The presentation closes with a call for more
open discussion of these nuanced issues between and amongst people,
public sector employees, academics, and the private sector.