Publications

Details of our project-related academic publications, along with working papers, reports, policy briefings, and other research outputs are provided below.  This page is regularly updated as new publications emerge.

Journal Articles

Caprotti, F. and Liu, D. (2019) Emerging platform urbanism in China: Reconfigurations of data, citizenship and materialities.Technological Forecasting and Social Change https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.06.016

Caprotti, F. & Cowley, R. (2019) Varieties of smart urbanism in the UK: discursive logics, the state and local urban context. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12284

Joss, S., Sengers, F., Schraven, D., Caprotti, F. & Dayot, Y. (2019). The Smart City as Global Discourse: Storylines and Critical Junctures across 27 Cities. Journal of Urban Technology, 26(1): 3-34. DOI: 10.1080/10630732.2018.1558387

Xie, L., Flynn, A., Tan-Mullins, M. & Cheshmehzangi, A. (2019). Water and land: Environmental governance and Chinese eco-developmentJournal of Cleaner Production. Advance online version.  DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.204

Xie, L., Flynn, A., Tan-Mullins, M. & Cheshmehzangi, A. (2019). The making and remaking of ecological space in China: The political ecology of Chongming Eco-IslandPolitical Geography, 69: 89-102 DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.12.012

Caprotti, F. (2018). Spaces of visibility in the smart city: Flagship urban spaces and the smart urban imaginaryUrban Studies. Advance online version. DOI: 10.1177/0042098018798597

Cowley, R. & Caprotti, F. (2018). Smart City as anti-planning in the UKEnvironment and Planning D: Society and Space, 37(3) 428–448. DOI: 10.1177/0263775818787506

Caprotti, F. (2018). Future cities: Moving from technical to human needs. Palgrave Communications, 4, article number 35. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0089-5

Joss, S. (2018).  Future cities: Asserting public governancePalgrave Communications, 4, article number 36. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0087-7

Cowley, R. (2018). Future cities: Renarrating human agencyPalgrave Communications, 4, article number 41. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0103-y

den Hartog, H., Sengers, F., Xu, Y., Xie, L. Jiang, P. & de Jong, M. (2018). Low-carbon promises and realities: Lessons from three socio-technical experiments in ShanghaiJournal of Cleaner Production, 181: 692-702. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.003

Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L. & Tan-Mullins, M. (2018). The role of international actors in low-carbon transitions of Shenzhen’s International Low Carbon City in China. Cities. Advance online version. DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2017.11.004

Raven, R., Sengers, F, Spaeth, P., Xie, L., Cheshmehzangi, A. & de Jong, M. (2017). Urban experimentation and institutional arrangementsEuropean Planning Studies. Advance online version. DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2017.1393047

Joss, S., Cook, M. & Dayot, Y. (2017). Smart Cities: Towards a New Citizenship Regime? A Discourse Analysis of the British Smart City Standard. Journal of Urban Technology, 24(4): 29-49.  DOI: 10.1080/10630732.2017.1336027

Cowley, R., Joss, S. & Dayot, Y. (2018). The Smart City and its Publics: Insights from Across Six UK CitiesUrban Research & Practice, 11(1): 53-77. DOI: 10.1080/17535069.2017.1293150.

Caprotti, F., Cowley, R., Datta, A. Castán Broto, V., Gao, E., Georgeson, L., Herrick, C., Odendaal, N. & Joss, S. (2017). The New Urban Agenda: key opportunities and challenges for policy and practiceUrban Research & Practice, 10(3): 367-378. DOI: 10.1080/17535069.2016.1275618

Caprotti, F. & Cowley, R. (2017). Interrogating Urban ExperimentsUrban Geography, 38(9): 1441-1450. DOI:10.1080/02723638.2016.1265870

Country Profiles 

中国与欧洲的智慧生态城市:2016年发展趋势与城 市摘要  [Smart-Eco Cities in Europe and China: Trends and City Profiles 2016]

  • summary report (in Chinese) providing overview of smart-eco development in China, the UK, France, Holland and Germany

Smart-Eco Cities in France: Trends and City Profiles 2017

  • includes five profiles of French smart-eco cities (Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Nice, and Toulouse)

Smart-Eco Cities in Germany: Trends and City Profiles

  • includes three profiles of German smart-eco cities (Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich)

Smart-Eco Cities in China: Trends and City Profiles 2016

  • includes twelve profiles of Chinese smart-eco cities (Chengdu, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Kunming, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Wuxi)

Smart-Eco Cities in the Netherlands: Trends and City Profiles 2016

  • includes four profiles of Dutch smart-eco cities (Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, and Utrecht)

Smart-Eco Cities in the UK: Trends and City Profiles 2016

  • includes ten profiles of UK smart-eco cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Peterborough, and Sheffield)

Other Reports

What Can Urban Sustainability Experiments Do?

  • summary report from our event at the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum (Kuala Lumpur, Feb 2018)

Smart Eco-City Development in Europe and China: Opportunities, Drivers & Challenges 

  • briefing document with key policy lessons learnt (directions, drivers and challenges) from case studies in China and Europe

King’s College London UK Smart Cities Survey 2016

  • preliminary findings from a survey of Smart City initiatives in the UK conducted over 6 months between 2015 and 2016.

Books

Deng, W. & Cheshmehzangi, A. (2018). Eco-development in China: Cities, Communities and Buildings. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.  ISBN: 978-981-10-8344-0.

Book Chapters

Xie, L., Tan-Mullins, M. & Cheshmehzangi, A. (2019) Political Ecology of Chinese Smart-Eco Cities. In Zhang, X. (ed) Remaking Sustainable Urbanism: Space, Scale and Governance in the New Urban Era. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 57-78. ISBN: 978-981-13-3349-1

Caprotti, F. (2019). From Shannon to Shenzhen and Back: Sustainable Urbanism and Inter-city Partnerships in China and Europe. In Zhang, X. (ed) Remaking Sustainable Urbanism: Space, Scale and Governance in the New Urban Era. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 101-119. ISBN: 978-981-13-3349-1

Burton, K., Karvonen, A. & Caprotti, F. (2018). Smart goes green: digitalising environmental agendas in Bristol and Manchester. In Karvonen, A., Cugurullo, F. and Caprotti, F. (eds) Inside Smart Cities: Place, Politics and Urban InnovationLondon: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0815348689.

Cowley, R., Caprotti, F., Ferretti, M. & Zhong, C. (2018). Ordinary Chinese smart cities: The case of Wuhan.  In Karvonen, A., Cugurullo, F. and Caprotti, F. (eds) Inside Smart Cities: Place, Politics and Urban InnovationLondon: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0815348689.  Download pdf of accepted manuscript. 

Sengers, F., Späth, P. & Raven, R.P.J.M. (2018). Smart city construction: towards an analytical framework for (smart) urban living labs. In Marvin, S., Bulkeley, H., Mai, Q., McCormick, K. & Voytenko, P. (eds.) Urban living labs: experimenting with city futures. London: Routledge. ISBN: 978-1138714724.

Joss, S. & Cowley, R. (2017). National policies for local urban sustainability: a new governance approach? In Eames, M., Dixon, T., Hunt, M., & Lannon, S. (eds.) Retrofitting Cities for Tomorrow’s World. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 978-1119007210.

Presentation Materials

Cowley, R. (2018). Making Sense of the Smart City’s Variety: Lessons from China. Video of presentation at Smart Cities – Beyond the Standard Model symposium, Collegium Helveticum, ETH Zurich, 3 May. Watch here.

Phillips, J., Cowley, R., Kerim-Diken, M., Tan-Mullins, M. and Cheshmehzangi, A. (2018). What Can Urban Sustainability Experiments Do?  Video of short presentations from World Urban Forum 9, Kuala Lumpur, 13 Feb. Available on YouTube.  Download slides as pdf here

Raven, R.P.J.M., Sengers, F.W., Spaeth, P., Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L. & de Jong, M. (2017). An institutional perspective on smart city experimentation: comparing arrangements in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Ningbo. Presented by Frans Sengers and Linjun Xie at ECOCITY World Summit 2017, Melbourne, 13 July. Download pdf

Chien, S.-S. (2016).  Understanding Eco-Smart Process and Consequences in Post-Socialist China. Presented at SMART-ECO project meeting, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 12 May. Download pdf

Videos

Jolivet, E. (2017). Smart-Eco Urban Development in France. Available on YouTube.

Sengers, F. (2017). Smart-Eco Urban Development in the Netherlands. Available on YouTube and Tencent Video.

Tan-Mullins, M. (2017). Smart-Eco Urban Development in China. Available on YouTube and Tencent Video.

Spaeth, P. (2017). Smart-Eco Urban Development in Germany. Available on YouTube and Tencent Video.

Interviews and Media Articles

SmartCitiesWorld (2019). What makes these the 27 smartest cities? 21 February. Read online

University of Glasgow (2019). Top smart cities are global cities, new research reveals. Phys.org, 20 February. Read online

University of Exeter (2018). Public must help shape ‘smart cities’. Press release, 17 October. Read online

Caprotti, F. (2018). Interview on smart cities and citizen engagement, on Radio Exe, 16 October. In conjunction with Green GB Week.

Jolivet, E. (2018).  Bordeaux devient un modèle de smart city.  Parole d’Expert. Sud Ouest newspaper, 12 February. Download pdf

Xie, L., Cheshmehzangi, A. & Tan-Mullins, M. (2018). Interview on Green Talents Award and Ningbo Smart City Development, on local Ningbo TV channel YZTV. Watch on Youku.

Cowley, R. (2017). Interviewed on the involvement of large tech companies in urban development for the syndicated Kim Komando US radio show, 6 November.

Yu, L. (2017).  The development of smart-eco cities in China. Interview on Chinese local TV – Haikou Channel [《双创三人行》智慧生态城市建设——于立 ], 3 Aug.  Watch on YouTube, or TenCent video (腾讯视频) 15:00 onwards , or HKBTV.CN (海广网) 15:00 onwards.

Caprotti, F. (2017). Research in the invisible city: Challenges for ‘knowing’ the smart city.UGEC Viewpoints, 20 April. Read Online

Joss, S. (2016). Smart Cities at a Crossroads.Public Sector Executive, Dec/Jan: 40. Download pdf

Spaeth, P. (2016). The Smart City in Germany? Reconsidering the Challenges of Sustainable Urban Development [德国智慧城市- 城市可持续发展挑战再考]. Interview given at Swanport Cafe, Beijing, 21 May. Read online, or download pdf

Conference papers and participation

Jolivet, E., Houdart, S. & Iribarne, A. (2019). Participative fabrication of the contemporary city: a critical reflection based on the iconic case of the Bassins à flot district in Bordeaux. Presentation at symposium on Creativity and Co-Creation in Changing Cities: Collectively Organising for New Modes of Production, organised by the Research Group for Collaborative Spaces. University of Barcelona, 14-15 January.

Cowley, R. (2018). Learning from ‘Second Tier’ Smart Cities: The case of Wuhan, China. Presentation at workshop on Learning from Small Cities: Governing Imagined Futures and the Dynamics of Change in India’s Smart Urban Age, King’s College London, 1 August 2018. Watch video on YouTube (NB: audio problems 2.05-3.40).

Joss, S. (2018). Is Urban Sustainability Going out of Fashion? Participation in roundtable event at the AESOP Annual Congress 2018, Gothenburg, 10-14 July 2018.

Caprotti, F. (2018). Smart Eco-Cities, and some reflections. Presentation at Smart Cities: Provincialising the Urban Age in India and South Africa inception workshop, King’s College London, 27 April.

Cowley, R. (2018). Making Sense of the Smart City’s Variety: Lessons from China. Presentation at Smart Cities – Beyond the Standard Model symposium, Collegium Helveticum, ETH Zurich, 3 May.

At the Ninth Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9), in our What Can Urban Sustainability Experiments Do? side event, Kuala Lumpur Conference Centre, 13 February 2018:

  • Corridor Manchester (Rob Cowley)
  • Smart-eco city experimentation in Ningbo (May Tan-Mullins & Ali Cheshmehzangi)

Jolivet, E. & Cowley, R. (2018). Smart-eco-cities for a green economy: A comparative study of Europe and China. Public event on Smart Cities: studies, rankings and perspectives, organised by Bordeaux Métropole. Cité Municipale, Bordeaux, 1 February 2018.

At the Smarter and/or Greener? International Smart Eco-Cities Workshop, University of Nottingham Ningbo, 11-12 December 2017 (see programme):

  • Keynote speech: Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements (Rob Raven)
  • Findings from the UK and France (Rob Cowley)
  • Findings from Holland and Germany (Frans Sengers)
  • Findings from China (Ali Cheshmehzangi)
  • The Death of the Future? Exploring the Conceptual Tensions of the Smart Eco-City (Rob Cowley)
  • A multi-scale perspective of Chongming eco-development (Linjun Xie)

At the 2017 International Symposium on Sustainable Smart Eco-City Planning and Development, Cardiff University, 12-13 October 2017 (see programme):

  • Smart Eco-Cities in Europe and China: insights from the SMART-ECO project (Federico Caprotti)
  • The smart city as global discourse: tracing critical junctures (Simon Joss)
  • Are there Smart Cities in Germany? Developments and debates complicating governance in large German cities today (Philipp Spaeth)
  • Sustainable Development Directions in China: Smart, Eco, or Both? (Ali Cheshmehzangi)

Cowley, R. (2017).  Position statement and poster in panel on Urban Experimentation for Earth System Governance? at 2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance, University of Lund, 8-11 October.

Spaeth, P. (2017). Wissenspolitische Implikationen der Smart City:  Fragen und Beobachtungen am Beispiel Hamburgs. Paper presented at German Congress of Geography (DKG) 2017, Tübingen, 30 September.

Cowley, R. (2017). What is distinctive about the spatiality of the smart city? Paper presented at workshop on Spatial Smartness, organised by the Regional Studies Association (RSA) Research Network on Smart City-Regional Governance for Sustainability, University of Gdansk, 21-22 September.

Raven, R.P.J.M., Sengers, F.W., Spaeth, P., Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L. & de Jong, M. (2017). An institutional perspective on smart city experimentation: comparing arrangements in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Ningbo. Paper presented by Frans Sengers at WINIR Institutions and Open Societies conference, Utrecht, 14-17 September.

At the 2017 (Twelfth) Conference on Urban Development and Planning in Haikou, China, 27-28 July 2017:

  • The ‘smart’ eco-city: insights from the UK (Rob Cowley)
  • 为可持续发展而规划:崇明生态岛规划和发展引发的思考 [Planning for sustainability: some concerns from Chongming Eco-Island’s planning and development] (Linjun Xie)
  • 生态,智慧,宜居:多语境下城市发展的核心内涵与生态现代化的困境 [Ecological, smart, liveable: core connotations of cities within multi-discourses and the dilemma of ecological modernization] (Li Yu)

Raven, R.P.J.M., Sengers, F.W., Spaeth, P., Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L. & de Jong, M. (2017). An institutional perspective on smart city experimentation: comparing arrangements in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Ningbo. Paper presented at Copernicus Workshop on Futuring versus Path-Dependencies, Utrecht, 13 July.

Raven, R.P.J.M., Sengers, F.W., Spaeth, P., Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L. & de Jong, M. (2017). An institutional perspective on smart city experimentation: comparing arrangements in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Ningbo. Paper presented at ECOCITY World Summit 2017, Melbourne, 13 July.

Joss, S. (2017). The Smart City and Its Publics: Insights from Across Six UK Cities. Paper presented at Natural Resources and Urban Transformations Colloquium, Rurh-Universität, Bochum, Germany, 12 July.

Cheshmehzangi, A. & Sengers, F. (2017). Comparing smart cities in Europe and China: visions, governance and experimentsPaper presented at 2017 Global Smart City Summit, Shanghai, 28-30 June.

Raven, R.P.J.M., Sengers, F.W., Spaeth, P., Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L. & de Jong, M. (2017). An institutional perspective on smart city experimentation: comparing arrangements in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Ningbo. Paper presented at 8th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, Gothenburg, 18-21 June.

Cowley, R., Joss, S. & Caprotti, F. (2017). The UK Smart City and its Publics. Paper presented at Nordic Geographers Meeting 2017, Stockholm, 18-21 June. Abstract

Joss, S. & Cook, M. (2017). Doing smart governance: an assemblage approach. Paper presented at Nordic Geographers Meeting 2017, Stockholm, 18-21 June. Abstract

Xie, L. (2017). Smart Eco-cities for a Green Economy: Chinese Transition towards urban sustainability. Paper presented at Contemporary Challenges of China symposium, organised by the Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies at University of Nottingham Ningbo, 26 May.

Tan-Mullins, M., Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L. & Späth, P. (2017). Chinese Smart/Eco Urbanism from a Comparative Perspective. Paper given at Asia – Transition of a World Region conference (50th anniversary of the German Association of Asian Studies), Hamburg, 17 May.

At the International Conference on China Urban Development in London, 5-6 May 2017 (website and programme):

  • Modular urbanism: Bureaucratic time-space, isomorphic form, and urban crisis (Chien, S.-S. & Woodworth, M.D.)
  • Challenges of Chinese eco-cities: A multi-perspective analysis of the current status (Cheshmehzangi, A., Tan-Mullins, M. & Linjun Xie, L.)
  • Envisioning Pingdi International Low Carbon City (ILCC) in Shenzhen: Can we foresee a sleeping dragon? (Cheshmehzangi, A., Xie, L., Sengers, F. & Tan-Mullins, M.)
  • Explaining city branding practices in China’s three mega-city regions: The role of ecological modernization (de Jong, M., Chen, Y., Joss, S. & Lu, H.)

Späth, P. (2017). Big Data und Open Data – Neue wissenspolitische Arrangements in Zeiten der Smart City? Paper given at Assessing Big Data workshop, Technical University of Dortmund, 13 March.

Joss, S. (2017). Smart cities UK: between standardization and emergent local practices. American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting 2017, Boston, 4 April. Abstract

Cheshmehzangi, A., Tan-Mullins, M. & Xie, L. (2017). The Global Actors of Pingdi’s International Low Carbon City: An Analysis of their Influences on the Planning Process. Paper given at EU-Asian Sustainable Management conference, National Taiwan University, 15-16 March. Abstract

Xie, L., Cheshmehzangi, A. & Tan-Mullins, M. (2017). China’s move towards a New Low-Carbon Development Mode? An Analysis of International Low Carbon City (ILCC) in Shenzhen. Paper given at EU-Asian Sustainable Management conference, National Taiwan University, 15-16 March. Abstract

Tan-Mullins, M,. Cheshmehzangi, A. & Xie, L. (2017). Implementation Gap for Smart City Management: The case of Ningbo China. Paper given at EU-Asian Sustainable Management conference, National Taiwan University, 15-16 March. Abstract

Joss, S. (2016). Smart Cities – So Whither Sustainability? Keynote presentation at Smart City-Regional Governance for Sustainability: Experimental Smartness conference organised by Regional Studies Association Research Network. Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, 6 October. Programme

Spaeth, P. (2016). Für Energieregionen wie für Smart Cities: Ein Analyserahmen für ortsbezogene Zukunftsvisionen [For energy regions and smart cities: An analytical framework for the study of place-related visions of the future]. Paper given at workshop on The Role of Cities, Municipalities, and Regions in systemic change of the energy system – Theoretical and methodological approaches. Stuttgart, 6 October.

Sengers, F., Spaeth, F., & Raven, R.P.J.M. (2016). Smart city construction: towards an analytical framework for smart city experimentation. Paper given at SPRU 50th Anniversary Conference. University of Sussex, 7-9 September.

Cowley, R. (2016). Deglobalising the Smart-Eco Urban Ideal. Paper given at Joint East Asian Studies (JEAS) Conference 2016. SOAS, London, 7-9 September.

Sengers, F., Spaeth, F., & Raven, R.P.J.M. (2016). Smart city construction: towards an analytical framework for smart city experimentation. Paper given at 4S/EASST Conference BCN-2016. Barcelona, 31 August – 3 September.

Spaeth, P. (2016). Socio-technical futures shaping the present – Empirical examples and Analytical Challenges in STS and Technology Assessment. Paper given at 4S/EASST Conference BCN-2016. Barcelona, 31 August – 3 September.

Caprotti, F. & Cowley, R. (2016). Analysing the Actually Existing UK Smart City. Paper given at RGS-IGB Annual International Conference 2016. London, 30 August – 2 September.

Caprotti, F. (2016). Social Sustainability and the UK Smart City. Invited plenary presentation at AHRC Network conference on Smart City Futures and Social Justice. University of Leeds, 29-30 June.

Cowley, R. (2016). Science Fiction and the Smart-Eco City. Paper given at Society for the History of Technology Annual Meeting 2016. National University of Singapore, 22-26 June.

Joss, S. Molella, A. & Kargon, R. (2016) ‘Smart City’: Tracing the Historical Roots of the Contemporary Paradigm of Urban Technology. Paper given at Society for the History of Technology Annual Meeting 2016. National University of Singapore, 22-26 June.

Caprotti, F. (2016). Metrics and sustainable urban futures. Introductory talk at Urban Futures: Interrogating Metrics and the City workshop. King’s College London, 8 June.

Sengers, F., Spaeth, F., & Raven, R.P.J.M. (2016). Smart city construction: towards an analytical framework for smart city experimentation.  Paper for the Workshop on Urban Living Labs, Experimentation and Socio-technical Transitions. Durham University, 5 February.

Sengers, F., Wieczorek, A., Raven, R.P.J.M., & Berkhout, F. (2015). Experimenting for urban sustainability transitions: a systematic literature review. RGS-IGB Annual International Conference 2015. University of Exeter, 1-4 September.