I was pleased to participate in Master’s defenses (via Zoom) by Nicholas Smart and Jamie Zouras today. Nicholas presented his project on Street Trees Across Culture and Climate: A Comparative Analysis of Density and Distribution while Jamie presented her study of Collaborative Decision-making in Green and Blue Infrastructure Projects: The Case of Copenhagen’s Hans Tavsens Park and Korsgade. Both studies focused on the sociocultural aspects of urban ecology. And thanks to Karin Bradley and Tigran Haas for their feedback.

I was honoured to participate in Daniele Valisena’s doctoral defense yesterday as a member of the grading committee. Daniele’s thesis, Coal Lives: Italians and the Metabolism of Coal in Wallonia, Belgium 1945-1980, is an ambitious and far-reaching study of how migration, landscape, and capitalism all combined into a multi-faceted socio-eco-technical assemblage in Belgium immediately following World War II. Don Mitchell (Uppsala University) provided many insightful and challenging questions as the opponent while Patrizia Dogliano (University of Bologna), May-Brith Ohman Nielsen (University of Agder) and I participated as members of the grading committee. The defense was conducted entirely on Zoom with about 50 attendees from around the world and the grading committee was unanimous in its decision to pass Daniele’s thesis. Congratulations to Dr Valisena and his supervisors, Marco Armiero and Sverker Sörlin, for a job well done!

I have posted an advertisement for a doctoral studentship on smart cities and urban planning. This is a four-year position in the Division of Urban and Regional Studies at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. More information about the position is available here. The application deadline is 28 May 2020. Please email me if you have any questions about the position.

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:

• Smart and sustainable cities? Pipedreams, practicalities and possibilities by James Evans , Andrew Karvonen, Andres Luque-Ayala, Chris Martin, Kes McCormick, Rob Raven and Yuliya Voytenko Palgan
• Thinking critically about smart city experimentation: entrepreneurialism and responsibilization in urban living labs by Anthony M. Levenda
• The promise of smart grids by Heather Lovell
• Smart meter data and equitable energy transitions – can cities play a role? by Jess Britton
• Stretching “smart”: advancing health and well-being through the smart city agenda by Gregory Trencher and Andrew Karvonen
• Urban sharing in smart cities: the cases of Berlin and London by Lucie Zvolska, Matthias Lehner, Yuliya Voytenko Palgan, Oksana Mont & Andrius Plepys
• Smart and eco-cities in India and China by Johanna I. Höffken & Agnes Limmer