Anthropology and the smart city: from abstract models to undisciplined practices

Abstract

This article reflects on the contribution that cultural anthropology brings to the interdisciplinary debate on the smart city, and the analytical frameworks through which we can investigate through ethnography the dissemination of information and communication technologies within urban spaces. The essay retraces the debate on new urban policies, and highlights the dichotomy between those for whom the smart city is an instrument of social inclusion, environmental sustainability and economic development, and those who see its potential forms of control and exclusion. We argue that both tendencies share an analytical approach mainly focused on the moment of planning, which is unable to escape from the self-representation of the new urban paradigm as a globalizing and homogenizing force. Drawing from ethnographic cases, the article argues for a “non smart-centered” approach to investigate urban smartization in the context of long-term processes of place-making. This would shed light on the imaginaries produced by smart policies, ICT’s informal and unpredictable uses and the ways these (re-)shape senses of locality.