Exploring 'smart citizenship' as a socio-technical ecology: the case of Oxfordshire, UK

Responding to the ESRC strategic priority of 'ways of being in a digital age' the research will be embedded in emergent literatures on smart cities, big data and citizenship. Smart cities emerge through varying partnerships, stakeholders and trajectories that affect how the 'smart citizen' is constructed. Similarly to Greenfield's (2006) assertion that 'everyware' technology "will appear differently in different places: that is, there is and will be no one continuum of adoption" (p.167), there is not one model for existing nor purpose-built smart cities. A 'top-down' model could suggest an organised strategy between key stakeholders for the end benefit of the smart citizen. Critiqued as a 'high tech' variation of urban entrepreneurialism, Hollands (2015) sees private firm-led smart cities as a 'corporate smart city' where it can "only be effectively delivered through a corporate vision of smartness, in conjunction with an entrepreneurial form of urban governance and a large compliant and accommodating citizenry" (p.62). This raises the potential for conflict as "what if some smart initiative which started out as publicly funded and with social inclusion as a goal, become overtaken by private sector concerns whose goal becomes purely profit-making?" (Hollands, 2008, p.306). The corporate smart city could also be seen as providing the "supporting infrastructure for business activity and growth stimulating new forms of entrepreneurship" (p.2). However, this means the 'smart citizen' could exist within a highly hierarchal strategy with limited involvement in the delivery of the smart city. A 'bottom-up' or community model could be seen as producing the smart city with the smart citizen, rather than of the smart citizen. An example of this is exemplified by the Face Your World project - a 3D simulation environment software where young people in a neighbourhood community in Amsterdam collaboratively designed a city park by uploading images and ideas online for debate amongst each other (De Lange & De Waal, 2013). Through the agency of software, this crowd sourced plan persuaded the local government to abandon their initial plans for the park in preference of its alternative.
Responding to the lack of in-depth empirical case studies (Kitchin, 2015) the research will focus on smart city initiatives taking place in the city of Oxford. This is coordinated by the Oxford Strategic Partnership (OSP) - a set of collaborative organisations across the public sector (such as the city council, the NHS, the police), business (e.g. Unipart), academia (University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University) and voluntary and community organisations (such as the Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action) with the core of its pledge to build on existing 'smart' initiatives and technologies with "rigorous citizen engagement" (Smart Oxford Project Board, 2015, p.18). Examining policy documents and online content from these core actors will provide the theoretical discursive framing embodying meanings of 'smart' and 'smart citizenship' within this strategy. Additionally, attending public meetings from Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council or talks such as those hosted by either university will provide insight to discourses of smart citizenship. Together this will also enable comparative analyses between the academic literature and other smart cities.
Three or more case studies will then be developed in order to explore the diversity of smart citizenship across the projects categorised by Smart Oxford; mobility, energy, sustainability, robotics, innovation. As the OSP will build on current projects (Figure 1, 2015) it may be possible that additional initiatives of interest may emerge while later refining the research design.