It´s The Smart City, Stupid! : A critical study of Smart narratives, Attraction Hysteria & the production of Smart Space in the European Green Capital 2020

Abstract: In this research, the “Smart City-edifice” of Lisbon has been examined through qualitative field work carried out in the city. The concept of the Smart City- edifice has been designed by the author in an attempt to grasp the ambiguous Smart City ambition as an assemblage of (i) specific techniques incorporated into the urban environment (ii) the modes of governance which these techniques allow for, particularly real time data collection & (iii) issues of city branding, placemaking and urban, Smart regeneration. The highlighted empirical material has been produced in collaboration with interlocutors from three different projects, and relate to the three different facets of the Smart Cityedifice: A developer of a gamification scheme (e-governance), a sustainable neighbourhood project (Tech-driven sustainability and governance/civic participation) and lastly a creative hub (branding, creativity & regeneration). These facets are being examined in the context of Lisbon, a city which has gone through a re-formulation of urban agendas in the capitalist restructuring of the economy in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The post-crisis strategy in Lisbon is interpreted as a sort of “attraction hysteria” (Anttiroiko, 2014), as much effort has been placed on attracting global capital and tourism, incentivised not least by a liberalized, profitable housing market. This attraction hysteria is understood by the author as producing specific implications for the development of the Smart Cityedifice. Main findings include the hinderances that said politics have produced for ambitions of civic participation and other democratic visions of the Smart City. These findings are understood in the light of the Lefebvrian framework of the “right to the city” and critical understandings of the touristified city. The field work itself has been guided by two key research questions, these being: a) How are Smart City narratives being operationalized locally by actors in Lisbon? B) What possible tensions could arise between Smart aims of global urban competitiveness and aims of civic participation, in the context of Lisbon?