Michel Foucault and the Smart City: Power Dynamics Inherent in Contemporary Governing through Code

Abstract

Drawing upon Michel Foucault's approach to power and governmentality, this paper explores the internal logics and dynamics of software-mediated techniques used to regulate and manage urban systems. Our key questions are as follows: what power and regulatory dynamics do contemporary smart-city initiatives imply? And how do smart information technologies intervene in the governing of everyday life? Building on the Foucauldian distinction between apparatuses of discipline and apparatuses of security, the paper approaches these questions on three broad levels, namely: how contemporary 'governing through code' relates to its referent object (referentiality axis), to normalisation (normativity axis), and to space (spatiality axis). Empirically, the paper investigates two high-profile pilot projects in Switzerland in the field of smart electricity management, aimed at (1) the assessment of customer needs and behaviours with regard to novel smart metering solutions (iSMART), and (2) the elaboration of novel IT solutions in the field of smart electricity grids for optimised load management (Flexlast).

Smart Cities and Green Growth: Outsourcing Democratic and Environmental Resilience to the Global Technology Sector

“…En el primer caso, desde 2008, esta compañía ha desarrollado un completo proceso de transformación de su modelo de negocio y de su estructura organizativa a partir del concepto de smarter cities, posicionándose como pionera en este ámbito, llegando incluso a patentar el término de "smarter cities" el 4 de octubre de 2011 como un hito clave en la disputa entre las diferentes compañías TIC por situarse en el mercado de la smart city (Söderström, Paasche y Klauser, 2014). Cavada et al (2014) sitúan, de hecho, el inicio del movimiento de smart cities en 2005, en una iniciativa de la Fundación Clinton, que pidió a Cisco un análisis sobre cómo sus servicios podrían contribuir a la ciudad del futuro y los servicios urbanos.…”

The Variegated Economics and the Potential Politics of the Smart City

“…Ironically, this account has a good deal in common with the celebratory literature produced by the likes of IBM, Cisco and Siemens, among others, which in effect reifies the vision of the smart city they wish to promote. (SHELTON et al, 2014, p. 2) In political terms, this vision has induced critical urban scholars to provide rather apocalyptic scenarios of post-political urban societies sterilized by the use of smart technologies and devices for surveillance and disciplinary purposes (see for instance, HOLLANDS, 2008;KLAUSER et al, 2014;VANOLO, 2014). This predominant view within critical urban studies runs the risk not only of reproducing the hegemonic narrative of smart cities received from these powerful economic players and other auxiliary actors such as the local and national governments seeking their support, as argued by SHELTON et al (2014), but also -I would add -of looking at existing capitalist dynamics and related government-citizen relationships only in terms of super-determination and control, leaving no hope for social change within actually existing capitalist societies.…”

Untitled

“…The Ampla company appears simultaneously in the secondary sector, producing infrastructure, and in the tertiary sector, offering the energy service. Klauser et al (2014) argue that the relationship between public and industrial actors can cause transformations in urban space, based on specific interests of particular companies and warn that this could be a risk factor. Kitchin (2014) also warns of the potential problems associated with this process, which the author calls 'smart city commercialization', and describes a process in which the city begins to relate in a more specific and more intimate way with economic interests.…”