I am currently employed as a postdoc in the project “Smart cities for city officials”. With the project team (myself, Professor Guy Baeten and Research Assistant Adriana de la Pena), we are working on designing and implementing an open access online course about smart cities directed to city officials.
The purpose of the project “Smart cities for city officials” is to fill an important knowledge gap in smart cities research: while our technological knowledge regarding smart cities is substantial, little is known about the role of city authorities in the implementation of smart city planning. From a Social Science perspective, the project seeks to critically examine the risks and the benefits of smart city services and products offered by international corporations from the viewpoint of city authorities. Through a detailed analysis of the social, economic, environmental and political aspects of smart urbanization, it seeks to empower city authorities to make informed decisions about what smart city planning can offer them. As part of the project, we are currently developing a course for city officials. Smart city development holds great potential, but municipalities should not be naïve about its risks and benefits, and how it may potentially change agenda-setting powers. Therefore, cities should be offered a clear picture of its political, social and environmental fallouts. The ultimate purpose of the course is to provide cities with a more powerful, knowledgeable and professional position towards smart city promises so that they maximize the benefits and minimize the risks.
In the last couple of months, we followed a process of collaborative design with city officials. We conducted a series of focus groups following two main objectives; 1) to explore daily practices, expectations, uncertainties, and possible conflicts regarding the implementation of smart city policies starting from the participants’ experiences. This collective analysis has served as a fundamental input for the development of the course. And 2) to discuss the best possible format of the course that responds to city officials’ challenges and interests and their busy agendas.
Even though we will define the course details in the next couple of months, we have decided on a general structure. The course will have three sections: The first section will be an online course available from November 1st to self-paced study during the whole month. The course will be divided into eight modules, each one being dedicated to one theme: 1) Ontology- Definitions, 2) Governance: participation and democracy, 3) Privacy and security, 4) Equality and justice, 5) The role of cities and public officials, 6) Epistemology – methodologies, 7) Best/worst practices, 8) Alternatives, futures. Each module will have an introductory lecture, followed by interviews with leading international researchers and practitioners. The modules will be available in audiovisual form, audio-only (like a podcast), and printed form. We have recorded around 10 hours of interviews with leading social scientists.
The second section will take place on the last week of November (TBC) and will have a workshop format. We aim to offer a neutral place to discuss complex social issues concerning the content of the course’s first section.
The third and last section will be a discussion panel at the Smart City conference organized by the Institute for Urban Research in Malmö in June 2022. As a tentative format, this section will consist of a keynote titled Smart Cities, the Societal Role of the Social Sciences and Knowledge Dissemination Practices, followed by a panel debate of the same topic with the keynotes of the conference, and finally, a panel of city officials discussing smart city policies in the Nordic countries, based on the discussions of the previous sections of the course.
The first edition of the course will have a Nordic European focus. Future editions will shift the geographical focus to an increasingly global reach.
