WPS No.53 | Nikolaeva, A. (2021) | Smarter cities, smarter bicycles? Exploring the relationship between smart city visions and cycling in Copenhagen and Amsterdam
Smart city projects are criticized by scholars for pro-innovation bias and technological solutionism. Building on these critiques, this working paper by Anna Nikolaeva investigates the drivers of “smartification” of cycling in the cities of Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
In cities throughout the world, cycling is increasingly upgraded with smart technology and is included in smart cities visions and projects. This process has not been problematized in public discourse as smart innovation is seen as a potential booster of the known benefits of cycling. Drawing on critical literatures of smart city, smart mobility and degrowth and using the cases studies of Copenhagen and Amsterdam the paper opens up a more critical conversation on the smartification of cycling in the context of technosolutionism, technology push and pro-innovation bias.