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Short abstract:

My paper delves into the policy imaginaries of Smart City Vienna, contrasting them with the realities of participatory urban initiatives. This juxtaposition highlights the discrepancies between policy rhetoric and practical implementations, revealing inherent tensions.

Long abstract:

The concept of the 'smart city' has become a cornerstone in the discourse of urban development, promising a future sculpted by citizen participation through advanced technologies and policies. My interest in participating in the workshop drives from three studies conducted during my PhD in STS department, University of Vienna, focusing on Smart City Vienna, to critically examine the interplay between policy imaginaries and the realities of participatory urban initiatives.

The first study delves into the policy frameworks of Smart City Vienna, contrasting them with the actual participatory initiatives employing smart and digital tools. This juxtaposition reveals discrepancies between policy rhetoric and practical implementations, highlighting tensions and misconceptions about citizen engagement. It argues for a re-evaluation of participatory methodologies, advocating for adaptable and responsive approaches to the evolving nature of urban transformation. This research, grounded in multi-sited empirical observations, interprets participatory practices as infrastructuring publics for digital futures, where participation normalizes the concept of technological 'smartness'.

The second study extends this analysis by examining the democratic deficit in the employment of smart technologies in urban governance. It reflects on participation assemblages in Smart City Vienna, problematizing the uneven relationship between the ends and means of participation in the context of new technologies. The study argues for a greater focus on the purpose of participation and the forms of responsibilities in smartification activities, where citizens become part of the digital infrastructure, often without a choice.

The third article investigates a specific technological intervention in Vienna – the intelligent pedestrian traffic lights (IPTL) initiative. This initiative, powered by AI, aims to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety but reveals a conflicting dynamic in temporal ordering and a lack of sociotechnical understanding. The lack of citizen engagement in the design process leads to multiple 'missing publics', limiting the system's ability to attend to the social fabric of streets beyond automobility. The paper proposes a reconstructive approach to rethink traffic lights as devices of urban temporal ordering.

Collectively, these studies contribute to the discourse on digital planning and participation, offering insights into the complexities of fostering responsive citizen engagement in smart city contexts. They highlight the need for a systemic view of participation, considering diverse and interconnected ways in which publics engage in shaping matters of concern, and the importance of rethinking technological interventions in urban spaces. This paper aims to stimulate discussion on how to effectively bridge the gap between policy and practice in the smartification of urban environments.