Our international project team met at King’s College London on 9-10 September 2015, to agree on the programme of research to be conducted in the first year.

The key elements of this research are as follows:

Smart-Eco Horizon-Scanning and Case Reports

For each of the countries on which the research will focus (the UK, China, Germany, France and the Netherlands), a comprehensive list will be compiled of cities with substantial ‘eco-smart’ ambitions or implemented initiatives. Further analysis will then be conducted on key illustrative cases selected from each country’s ‘long list’. This analysis will be written up in a published case study report, which will form one of the key deliverables for the year. This exercise will be coordinated by Federico Caprotti (King’s College London).

International Smart-Eco City Database

Simultaneously, we are undertaking a global analysis of smart city discourse as represented online. This will map the online ‘discursive buzz’ around smart cities, and make use of an innovative internet scanning methodology. Once the data has been gathered and analysed in mid-2016, the resulting database will be made publically available as a key project output. The database working group is being led by Simon Joss (University of Westminster).

Literature review

Building on a literature review, the third key strand of the research in Year 1 involves the creation of a shared conceptual framework of ‘eco’ and ‘smart’ urban experiments, through the lens of transitions theory. This will inform the research programme for Years 2 and 3, and will be published at first as a working paper. The literature review working group is being led jointly by Eric Jolivet (University of Toulouse) and Federico Caprotti (King’s College London).

Looking forwards

Preliminary results from the three work packages above will be presented and discussed at the next main project meeting, to be held in China in summer 2016. The second year of the project will involve more in-depth case study research at a series of sites in China and Europe where smart-eco urban initiatives are underway or have been planned. A series of publications have been planned, and events envisaged, for the third year of the project.