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MODULE 1: ONTOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS
“Almost every discussion of smart cities begins with an effort to define the term or to assert that no definition is possible or necessary” (Clark, 2019, p.2).
Has the ‘smart city’ become an empty signifier? What is the role of such a cloudy concept in municipal work? Where does the smart city sit in time and space? This introductory module provides an overview of debates in the social sciences on conflicting definitions, critiques, and alternatives to dominant smart city discourses.
Length: 47 minutes
4 thoughts on “ MODULE 1: ONTOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS ”
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That was so relevant! Governments should use technology for public good, sometimes they focus on the solution that is not that relevant for the well being of the society. People should have a voice in the decision making!
I agree! Technology has such a big impact on our lives, that we should have a say in how and when to use it.
Very relevant to St. Louis. Part of what needs to be done here is to use a neighborhoods-focused approach, with story telling forming the binding neighborhood narratives. Those aspects of technology that can help build this type of coherence certainly have a role to play. Great course!!!👍
Professor Halegoua’s comment that data collection and visualization is never neutral is both interesting and germane. It is a point that has been made for sometime by some Bayesian statisticians, who maintain that bias is always present in both the prior distribution. A truly objective approach to data collection probably does not exist, since we all begin with a simplifying model. Indeed, such a mental construct is essential to make sense of reality.