Smartness and the City: A Comparative Study of Smart-City Ambitions and the Infrastructures of Smartness in Canadian Cities

Abstract

This thesis is a comparative analysis of three Canadian cities pursuing smart city initiatives in the years following Infrastructure Canada’s 2018 Smart Cities Challenge. Analyzing elite interviews and public texts relating to smart city initiatives in each case study, I first consider entrepreneurial inter-urban competition and economic development as a central objective and justification for municipal actors pursuing smartness. In all three cases, this results in a focus on procuring broadband infrastructure sufficient to support smart city applications while also supporting local businesses. Second, I consider how the smart city sociotechnical imaginary is used by private equity and smart city intermediaries to mobilize state intervention to facilitate public and private capital investment in information and communications technology infrastructure as part of a complex spatial fix. Both findings are most apparent in smaller and mid-sized communities on the periphery of urban centres, where legacy telecommunications service is most limited.