My book review of the classic urban studies text The City by Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess is now available on the LSE Review of Books website. Despite being published in 1925, the book continues to provide inspiration to those who are interested in understanding the complex and contentious dynamics of urban development. Check it out!
I am pleased to announce two successful grant applications from the Formas funding programme on Planning for Transformation (Stage 1). The funding provides seed money to develop more extensive research grants over the next five months. I will be working with Jonathan Metzger to develop a proposal on ‘Transformational Learning in Sustainable Spatial Planning: From Exemplary Districts to Systemic Change’ and also with Lina Suleiman, Blal Adem Esmail, Elisabet Roca, and Rocco Scolozzi to develop a proposal on ‘Networking for Planning Re-arrangement and Governing Sustainable Blue-Green Infrastructure.’ Looking forward to it!
I reviewed Jonathan Rutherford’s new book Redeploying Urban Infrastructure: The Politics of Urban Socio-Technical Futures for Buildings and Cities journal. The book develops a theoretical framework based on material politics to examine sustainable development activities in Stockholm and Paris. Great stuff!
I am very pleased to announce a new two-year project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and led by Prof Byron Miller at the University of Calgary. The project, ‘Smart Cities in Global Comparative Perspective: Worlding and Provincializing Relationships’ will provide a comprehensive comparison of smart city initiatives in seven cities around the world: Toronto, Calgary, Stockholm, Barcelona, Singapore, Taipei, and Seoul. Collaborators include Georgia State University, Macalaster College, McGill University, National Taiwan University, National University of Singapore, Open University of Catalonia, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Seoul National University, Singapore Management University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Calgary, University of Manchester, University of Toronto, and York University.
Matthew Cook, Håvard Haarstad and I are pleased to share a special issue of Urban Planning on the topic of ‘Urban Planning and the Smart City: Projects, Practices and Politics‘ with the following articles:
Urban Planning and the Smart City: Projects, Practices and Politics
By Andrew Karvonen, Matthew Cook and Håvard Haarstad
When Alphabet Inc. Plans Toronto’s Waterfront: New Post-Political Modes of Urban Governance
By Constance Carr and Markus Hesse
Googling the City: In Search of the Public Interest on Toronto’s ‘Smart’ Waterfront
By Kevin Morgan and Brian Webb
Conceptualizing Testbed Planning: Urban Planning in the Intersection between Experimental and Public Sector Logics
By Lina Berglund-Snodgrass and Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren
EU Smart City Lighthouse Projects between Top-Down Strategies and Local Legitimation: The Case of Hamburg
By Katharina Lange and Jörg Knieling
Mapping Platform Urbanism: Charting the Nuance of the Platform Pivot
By Ashlin Lee, Adrian Mackenzie, Gavin J. D. Smith and Paul Box
How Does ICT Expansion Drive “Smart” Urban Growth? A Case Study of Nanjing, China
By Zipan Cai, Vladimir Cvetkovic and Jessica Page
On Wednesday, 11 December, Vladimir Cvetkovic and I co-hosted a roundtable discussion at KTH on ‘The New Urban Science’. The aim of the event was to share insights on how contemporary cities are framed and utilised as objects of scientific study. Invited panellists included Jonas Bylund (JPI Urban Europe), Erica Eneqvist (RISE), Kelsey Oldbury (VTI) and Marco Molinari (KTH). We discussed issues related to digitalisation, experimentation, collaboration, and learning.
I am pleased to announce a new special issue of Local Environment on ‘Smart and Sustainable Cities: Pipedreams, Practicalities and Possibilities’ with co-editors James Evans, Andres Luque-Ayala, Chris Martin, Kes McCormick, Rob Raven and Yuliya Voytenko Palgan. The special issue includes the following articles:
Todor Stojanovski passed his PhD viva in Planning and Decision Analysis on 14 June 2019. The title of his thesis is Urban Form and Mobility – Analysis and Information to Catalyse Sustainable Development. A big thank you to the opponent, Robert Cervero (UC Berkeley), and the distinguished grading panel that included Carey Curtis (Curtin University), Malgorzata Hanzl (Lodz University of Technology), Teresa Marat-Mendez (University Institute of Lisbon), Elsa Arcaute (UCL), and Yusak Susilo (KTH). I was honoured to serve as lead supervisor on Todor’s thesis with the assistance of Tigran Haas. Congratulations to Dr Stojanovski on a job well done!
The Master’s students in my Urban Infrastructure course submitted proposals to the Urban ICT Arena in Kista that combine technological innovation and urban development. The groups drew on global precedents to develop customised ideas for Kista involving drones, apps, virtual reality, and other technologies. Great stuff! The proposals are posted here.
Themed issue of Urban Planning edited by Andrew Karvonen, Matthew Cook and Håvard Haarstad
Deadline for Abstracts: 30 June 2019
Deadline for Full Papers: 30 September 2019
Issue Release: February/March 2020
The contemporary smart cities agenda has been dominated by ICT actors with ambitious and far-reaching visions to digitalise collective urban services. Meanwhile, the role of planners (both public and private) as key actors of urban development has been marginalised. This is gradually changing as iconic and unique smart projects are giving way to the ‘actually existing smart city’ where digitalisation is emerging as a common activity of urban development processes.
The aim of this thematic issue is to present empirical findings on how urban planners are emerging as influential actors in smart urbanisation as well as how smart cities are influencing urban planning practices. The synergies between planning and digitalisation have significant implications in how cities will be governed in the future. Contributors to this thematic issue are encouraged to submit papers on topics that include but are not limited to:
Instructions for Authors: Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal’s editorial policies and to send their abstracts (about 200-250 words, with a tentative title) by email to the journal’s editorial office (up@cogitatiopress.com) by 30 June 2019.
More information here
