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- Policy mobility and social justice in smart cities: analysing urban paradigms in semiperipheral LisbonPublication . Donadio, Tomás; Tulumello, Simone; Firmino, Rodrigo JoséProblematizing the overaccumulation of capital intensified after the last cycles of crises by the alliance between financialisation and datafication, this research critically examines the popularized term smart city. Following the entrepreneurial turn in urban governance, data-driven urbanism was revealed as a neoliberal strategy of business expansion via corporate storytelling. Ubiquitous in corporate discourses, the dominant smart city paradigm is criticized for being technocratic, expanding already existing social problems and creating data-driven harms. Adopting an exploratory and explanatory methodological approach, the thesis inquires a paradigmatic case study of Lisbon, a late adherent of smart city development and a global semiperiphery, or a “South of the West". As a collection of three articles, the investigation begins by theorizing the right to the smart city and arguing that an authentic paradigm shift constitutes interpreting technology as a sociotechnical arrangement to unravel historical problems which marginalised citizens confront and employing public participation and democratic processes, therefore empowering and emancipating citizens. In Lisbon, semi-structured in-depth interviews and thematic document analysis reveal that the smart city agenda, top-down injected by corporate storytelling, mixes with formerly established and locally rooted public participation agenda, therefore shaping a hybrid agenda in which social justice gains strength. Closing with a reflexive essay that interprets the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to rethink smart cities and urban imaginaries, the research highlights how urban transitions and paradigm shifts can contribute towards socially just futures. By adopting a southern epistemological approach, the thesis enables a better comprehension of smart city paradigms in global semiperiphery, therefore contributing to enlarging and enriching southern urban critique.
- Repensar a cidade inteligente ou voltar ao “antigo normal”?Publication . Donadio, TomásReflexões sobre a pandemia COVID-19 sugerem que esta crise pode ser interpretada como uma oportunidade de repensar o sistema capitalista e evitar a volta ao “antigo normal”. Nesta linha de pensamento, este artigo aborda o debate crítico sobre o desenvolvimento de cidades inteligentes e ressalta a reformulação destas políticas por meio de modelos mais democráticos. Deve-se questionar o objetivo final de crescimento económico como modelador de futuros urbanos, o que significa combater a perpetuação de políticas fundamentadas no solucionismo tecnológico que, além de evidenciar questões de privacidade, não atendem às necessidades dos cidadãos, principalmente de grupos mais vulneráveis. Desta forma, o momento histórico atual serve para repensar e incentivar mudanças de paradigma como o desenvolvimento de cidades inteligentes mais inclusivas.
- Theorising social justice within the smart city: expanding urban paradigms by the notion of the right to the cityPublication . Donadio, TomásThis essay explores the emergence of a supposed smart city paradigm shift, in which the new paradigm would be focused on solving social problems, in alternative to the previous, which concentrates on technology and economic growth. However, both paradigms have shortcomings by representing urbanizations which are entrenched with the neoliberal ideology and its discontents. In contrast, the right to the smart city is interpreted as an extension of the new paradigm, considering technology as a tool to achieve citizens' needs and employing participatory processes, although incorporating a social justice element, thus, representing the establishment of an authentic paradigm shift. Highlighting the underlying challenges of actually existing smart cities, this essay proposes a theoretical framework founded on social justice, assembling democratic participation, redirecting outcomes to the most pressing causes and redistributing benefits to particular - marginalised and excluded, instead of generic, citizens. Therefore, it suggests a radical change of perspective in smart city studies, decentralising theory through a post-colonial and subaltern lens.
- Mobilizing alternative urbanisms in the semiperipheral smart city agendaPublication . Donadio, TomásWithin critical urban studies, this inquiry examines how mobile policies arriving in a global semiperiphery contribute to developing socially just smart city paradigms. By provincializing smart city research and expanding the North–South dichotomy by analyzing a “South of the West,” the inquiry focuses on Lisbon as a semiperipheral city. It adopts a policy mobility approach and an analytical framework of smart city paradigms, combining thematic document analysis and in-depth interviews to examine the case study. The inquiry engages with local historical transformations and temporally analyzes Lisbon’s smart city agenda representing its development phases and exploring the mobility of ideas and paradigm shifts. Due to historical challenges reflected by the peripheralization of Southern Europe, local arrangements have led to political-economic and social transformations that, as the study argues, are potentialized by policy mobilities and entail smart city paradigm shifts towards social justice. Therefore, hybridizing new and old, emerging and established urban agendas provides alternatives to replicating neoliberal policies.