Introducing a Taxonomy of the “Smart City”: Towards a Commons-Oriented Approach?

Abstract

During the last decade there has been considerable debate over the relatively vague concept of the “smart city”. Nowadays, the smart city has crystallised into an image of a city permeated with top-down and centrally controlled technological infrastructures that promise to improve the urban environment in terms of efficiency, security and sustainability. However, many scholars have criticised this perception of networked technologies for not being able to meet the needs of city-dwellers, raising privacy issues, and leading to an increase of environmentally harmful consumption of ICTs. The aim of this article is to contribute to the ongoing dialogue by providing a taxonomy of the smart city, based on certain technology governance models. After theoretically discussing the socio-environmental costs of each model, I argue for a commons-oriented approach which could democratise the means of making and offer more environmental benefits.