The Datafied Landscape: Smart Cities, Neoliberalism, and Inequality

• In Event: 262 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02.

Abstract

“Smart Cities” initiatives have been lauded as offering new approaches and mechanisms to manage, govern, plan and enhance urban spaces and citizen experiences within them. Relying on new technologies, the ‘smart’ descriptor refers to utilizing new tools as counter to traditional means of understanding and gathering information about cities and their residents. However, when relying on data accumulation and technological infrastructure to solve social problems, existing divides can be overlooked or exacerbated. Using Kansas City, Missouri as a case study, this paper analyzes the unequal landscape produced by three different smart city initiatives to highlight the inequities embedded in the datafication of urban space.

Author

• Monica M. Brannon, Park University