It seeks to open out new possibilities for the city contained in both interactive infrastructures and new forms of cultural practice. In an attempt to broaden and re-imagine the data-driven and creative city, this symposium will explore the intersections between these urban agendas with a view to re-imagining their possibilities. Increasingly calls have been for social justice, citizenship and the rights to the city, with a return of community and activist-focused arts activities, as well as new forms of ‘post-capitalist’ production communities. So too, cultural production has been reformatted under the rubric of the ‘creative industries’ in ways that foreground their contribution to economic growth. It has been closely associated with the “creative class” and the creative- entrepreneurial city in ways that have frequently become divisive and exclusionary, focusing on arts flagships, photogenic CBDs, and real estate profits. The ‘Creative City’ attempts to mobilise culture and creativity for city branding, urban regeneration and cultural industries growth, which also point to new forms of urban planning and governance. Nor should we restrict the impact of these technologies on urban culture to data-driven marketing and new consumption platforms. It has been increasingly felt amongst academics and policy-makers that we should not leave the vision for interactive infrastructures solely in the hands of IBM, Siemens, and their various marketers, sub-contractors, and engineers. Given the enterprise-driven character of these visions, the focus has been upon transport, utility management, security, and customized commerce.
Visions of the smart city have largely been built around the centralized, data-driven management of urban spaces and the flows that characterize them: of people, goods, services, and resources. The ‘Smart City’ is concerned with the application of digital infrastructure, sensors and data capture devices, and large scale computing power to previously distinct ‘social’ and governmental dimensions of urban life.
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