There is a global discourse about the potential, practicalities and problems associated with the “smart city”. The term has been applied to a wide range of initiatives seeking to address urban problems using digital technologies. The politics of smart cities – including questions of priorities; ownership and control; access and inequalities - have become an important theme. The role of citizens and communities in shaping smart city development is at the heart of the debate.

 

The ECOSCIM project has been investigating these questions over the last three years. It is a collaborative research project between University of Bristol and Anáhuac University in Mexico City funded by the ESRC Newton Fund in UK and Conacyt in Mexico. The Bristol team draws its members from the School for Policy Studies, the Business School, the School of Education, and the Department of Civil Engineering. The Anáhuac team draws its members from the Faculty of Global Studies. The project has had to navigate through the Covid period to keep moving forward. Technology played a key role in doing so.