As we approach the R&D Management Conference 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden, themed "Transforming Industries through Technology," we encourage those interested in smart cities and urban dynamics to submit an extended abstract to Track P25, entitled "Sociocultural Factors in Smart City Development: Prospect and Retrospect". This track aims to provide a platform for discussion and presentation, focusing on the origins, effects, and implications of digital technology adoption in urban contexts.
It seeks insights on a range of topics, from the smart perspective in urban development to the socio-cultural influences on technology implementation. Both empirical and theoretical submissions, offering managerial and policy insights, are invited.
📅 Important Dates:
➡ 14 February 2024: Abstracts submission deadline
➡ 22 March 2024: Notification of acceptance
➡ 3 may 2024: Full paper submission deadline
➡ 17-19 June 2024: R&D Management Conference
Extended Track Overview
Track chairs:
Federica Ceci
Department of Management and Business Administration - University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti – Pescara
E-mail: f.ceci@unich.it
Filippo Marchesani
Department of Management and Business Administration - University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti – Pescara
E-mail: filippo.marchesani@unich.it
Francesca Masciarelli
Department of Management and Business Administration -University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti – Pescara
E-mail: francesca.masciarelli@unich.it
Rama Krishna Reddy Kummitha
Essex Business School - University of Essex, United Kingdom
E-mail: rama.kummitha@essex.ac.uk
Overview
Smart cities are contested cities. Although there is a common agreement that smart cities represent heightened use of information communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance urban efficiency, the urban contexts are dominated by local interest and factors make it difficult to understand the specific configurations necessary to effectively implement smart city solutions. Nor does it help us to understand how smart city technologies are effective, as there is a growing urban divide present in our cities. Ever since Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin (2001) published their pioneering work on splintering urbanism, there has been a significant rise in research understanding how modern technologies and urban contexts are interwoven to create new forms of social inequalities and strengthen the existing ones. This especially focuses on the failure of the urban infrastructure to create the necessary means to bring different sections of communities together to build inclusive urban contexts.
Smart cities further cement the growing concerns about infrastructure's role in dividing our urban contexts. Critical research in smart cities orients the view on corporate storytelling (Soderstrome et al. 2014), neoliberal discourse (Grossi & Piaezzi, 2017), and entrepreneurial urbanism (Datta, 2015), the gap between technology development and adoption (Kummitha, 2018; Marchesani et al. 2023) among other. Although this research has initiated much-needed initial debate, we need further research to understand how and under which forms smart city ICTs are implemented, legitimated and how they create further divide in urban contexts. On the contrary, we also need evidence about how to create and implement innovative technologies to reduce gaps in urban contexts. For example, Kummitha (2019) argues about providing opportunities for citizens from local communities to invent and adopt technologies that are locally relevant yet strengthen urban efficiency.
With this background, this track aims to provide a dais for researchers interested in understanding the origin, effects and implications of digital technology adoption in urban contexts. We are particularly interested in understanding the causes, effects and negative implications of smart city technologies in urban contexts.
Smart technologies
Smart perspective in urban and local development
Technology and innovation in the urban and local development
New technologies in urban and local dynamics
Firm-based Smart evolution in the urban environment
Smart city-based entrepreneurial context
ICT enabled urban progress
Local ecosystem and urban "smart" transaction
Digital platforms and digital ecosystems from a smart city perspective
Smart tourism and smart destinations
Critical discourse
The negative effects of smart city technologies
The splintering urbanism
Digital divide and smart technologies
Neoliberal interests and smart technologies
Exclusive vs inclusive smart city development
Entrepreneurial discourse
The role of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in smart cities
Community-based entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship in smart cities
Community engagement
Socio-cultural factors
How do local realities clash with smart city technologies
How do norms and cultural factors constrain and facilitate the implementation of smart technologies
Smart technologies' legitimacy process
Both empirically and theoretically grounded contributions are welcome. Studies should offer managerial and policy implications. Please do not hesitate to contact the track organizers for additional information.
For more information: filippo.marchesani@unich.it.
Filippo Marchesani
Department of Management and Business Administration
University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara
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Filippo Marchesani
University of "G.D'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara
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