Smart Urban Futures and Social Justice
A South Africa Event on 2016-06-29 09:00:00
The ‘smart city’ discourse has become almost ubiquitous in contemporary urban policy and governance. In the global South, initiatives such as India's 100 smart cities programme has foregrounded the oft-misplaced faith in technology to engender urban regeneration and greater city efficiency. In South Africa, the aim to be smart has become embedded in a developmental discourse, yet manifestations of exclusionary urban development on city fringes continue to flourish. Ayona Datta, from University of Leeds, together with Nancy Odendaal, from the University of Cape Town, use these two country contexts as entry points into exploring the relationship between smart urban futures and social justice in the global south. In order to facilitate continued debate on this controversial topic, this workshop is aimed at exploring the various nuances of the international smart city debate in order to understand its implications for social justice, opportunities for more inclusive cities and the prospects for technologically informed solutions to urban problems. Invited plenary speakers include Adam Greenfield, Gillian Rose, Simon Marvin, Martin Murray, Federico Caprotti and Andrés Luque-Ayala. We invite participants to engage in an interactive and focused workshop to be held in Leeds. Workshop themes are as follows: Uncovering the smart city: debunking the myths and coming to grips with what constitutes a smart city, conceptually and practically. Smart ‘spin-offs’ / visuals: how does the notion of ‘smart’ contribute to urban knowledge, how we understand and make sense of the city? How does it contribute to spatial transformation in cities? Does it contribute to deeper exclusions? Beyond the critique: smart solutions for urban futures? This theme looks towards the present and future in critiquing the role of technology in innovation and solutions to urban challenges at local and regional scales. Potential contributors are invited to submit abstracts to Ayona Datta (a.datta@leeds.ac.uk) and Nancy Odendaal (Nancy.Odendaal@uct.ac.za) by 1 April 2016, and will be notified of acceptance by 30 April. The event is free for the first 30 attendees after which a nominal contribution towards catering will be required. We will give preference to those who also submit an abstract for the workshop to the organisers. Please register and request tickets via eventbrite. This workshop is funded by University of Leeds and World Universities Network.
at HEADINGLEY ENTERPRISE & ARTS CENTRE
Bennett Road
Leeds, United Kingdom
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