Smart City as Participatory Environment

An Archaeological Exercise on How to Build a Political Community

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31211/interacoes.n44.2023.a5

Keywords:

Smart cities, Media archeology, Functional transformation, Archive, Digital curation

Abstract

A certain frenzy is still felt around the idea of what a Smart City is: for some, it is a concern, for others it is an open field of huge possibilities. Stemmed from the ubiquitousness of immersive computing in urban environments, and implemented by the coalescence between several media, a Smart City seems to promise aggregated efficiency among equipment, structures and individuals. On the flip side, a Smart City simultaneously appears to limit citizenship to a series of pre-established, induced or monitored movements, announcing a kind of voluntary surveillance. Inspired by some works, this paper attempts to provide a reflection upon the complex apparatus that a Smart City can be. Making use of an archaeological exercise, it addresses the community and its engagement in placemaking. As a network of people, architectures, tools and programmes a city has always been an informational field and the susceptible environment for commands, therefore of control. A Smart City might not be an invention, but rather the transformation of the old structures with new means and materialities. It is emerging as a result of the diffusion of digital technology in the physical space. Hence the question does not relay on the technology deployed, but rather in the programmatic character of the systems it installs. After all, in technology may lie the way to raise a politically active and sensitive community.

Author Biographies

Catarina Patrício, CICANT - Centro de Investigação em Comunicações Aplicadas, Cultura e Novas Tecnologias, Universidade Lusófona

Catarina Patrício (Lisbon, 1980) is a Visual Artist, Researcher at CICANT and Assistant Professor at ECATI, University Lusófona. Catarina Patrício holds a PhD in Communication Sciences by FCSH-Nova University of Lisbon (2014), and was granted a FCT post-doctoral fellow at ICNOVA (2015-2020). With a MA in Anthropology of Social Movements, FCSH-Nova University of Lisbon (2008), and a degree in Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon (2003), Catarina Patrício researches and publishes in the field of anthropology of space, philosophy of technics, aesthetics and theory of media and culture.

Carlos Smaniotto Costa, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Universidade Lusófona

Carlos Smaniotto Costa is a Landscape Architect and Environmental Planner, graduated at the University of Hanover, Germany. He worked in different planning offices in the fields of design of urban environment, open space planning and urban development projects in Germany and Brazil. Carlos' PhD focused in landscape planning as directive for sustainable urban development. He is professor of Urban Ecology and Landscape Design. His research activities deal with issues of sustainable urban development strategies for the integration of open spaces and nature conservation in the urban context.

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Published

2023-06-30

How to Cite

Patrício, C., & Smaniotto Costa, C. (2023). Smart City as Participatory Environment: An Archaeological Exercise on How to Build a Political Community. Interações: Sociedade E As Novas Modernidades, (44), 118–134. https://doi.org/10.31211/interacoes.n44.2023.a5

Issue

No. 44

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Articles

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Copyright (c) 2023 Catarina Patrício, Carlos Smaniotto Costa

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