Photo: Making Sense
A number of grassroots appropriations of ‘smart’ technologies in urban settings are being studied as part of the KNOWING project (the knowledge politics of smart urbanism). Adrian Smith is studying examples in Barcelona and, as part of the research, recently wrote an article for the Guardian newspaper website. The article – ‘smart cities need thick data not big data’ – discusses a citizen science noise monitoring project in Barcelona, and argues that, “Going beyond the Smart City demands something its technocratic efficiency is supposed to make redundant: investment in old-fashioned, street-level skills in community development.”
Grassroots Innovations 