Cities globally are being (re)imagined as “smart cities”, with digital technologies offering opportunities for innovations in city management, civic engagement and place making. Local-level innovation is occurring idiosyncratically and independently across the world.

This project focuses on ‘smart citizenship’, by developing an international evidence base and engaging with city stakeholders. It addresses the following questions:

a)     Can we map the current global landscape of citizens’ engagement through digital deliberation? What projects/apps are operating and what is under development?

b)     Are initiatives citizen-led - driven by the question ‘what do we want technology to do for us?’ – or driven by the priorities of local elites and urban managers?

c)     How do existing initiatives address issues of participation and exclusion? Do they seek to promote internal learning and reflexive governance? How successful are they? Is there rigorous evidence evaluating effectiveness?

d)     What lessons can we learn from existing initiatives regarding barriers and facilitators to promoting ‘smart citizenship’?

Bristol’s smart city practice is world leading in its citizen-centredness, with respect to, for example, work on citizen sensing. The outputs from this project will complement current practice through developing a better understanding of not just “what works” but the factors influencing how and why it works.

Professor Alex Marsh and Dr Patricia Kennett from the School for Policy Studies are leading on this project.