Abstract

Over the past several decades the concept of smart cities has gained a lot of attention amongst researchers, the media, governments, civic groups and citizens. There is evidence that innovations have a more positive impact when they stimulate the development of cities and create a space for a broad variety of participants to engage in this development process. In this workshop, we take a critical view on the idea of smart cities by broadening participation to stakeholders who are still excluded from the concept of smart cities, such as wildlife and nature, but also people who are culturally diverse (e.g. migrants) or neurodiverse (e.g. people living with autism or dementia), who are left behind in the whole digitization process. One of the expected outcomes of the workshop is the development of a holistic smart city concept involving currently excluded stakeholders.

Konstantin Aal

Konstantin Aal (main contact) is a PhD student and a research assistant at the Institute for Information Systems and New Media, University of Siegen.

Tanja Ertl

Tanja Ertl holds a Bachelor degree in Sociology. Her Master degree is Social Studies and Socio-Informatics. She is a research assistant at the Institute of Information Systems and New Media , University of Siegen.

Anne Weibert

Anne Weibert is a PhD student and a research assistant at the Institute for Information Systems and New Media, University of Siegen.

Victoria Wenzelmann

Victoria Wenzelmann holds M.A. degrees in Cultural Anthropology and African Studies and is a research associate at the Institute for Information Systems and New Media, University of Siegen.

David Unbehaun

David Unbehaun is research associate and PhD Student at the University of Siegen. His current research is about usage behavior of Elderly and designing ICT based Solutions.

Peter Tolmie

Peter Tolmie originally trained as a musician before shifting his attention to the social sciences and gaining a PhD in Sociology from Lancaster University.

Clara Mancini

Clara Mancini is a Senior Lecturer in Interaction Design, and founding head of the Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) Lab at The Open University.

Volker Wulf

Volker Wulf is a computer scientist with an interest in the area of IT system design in real-world contexts, this includes the development of innovative applications from the areas of cooperation systems, knowledge management and community support.

Workshop Structure

We plan to hold an interactive workshop, during which the participants will mostly work on different tasks instead of just presenting their previous and current work. The workshop will begin with an ice-breaker and short introductions before the morning coffee break. Following the morning coffee and lunch breaks, participants will work in small groups, formed based on their position papers, to identify and critique current concepts of smart cities, utilizing several different interaction design methods, such as use cases, personas, scenarios and low-fidelity prototyping. The outcome from the group sessions will be shared in a plenary after the afternoon coffee break, with a view to formulating a holistic model for smart cities. The workshop will conclude with a plenary discussion of future plans for a collaboration on the further development of such a holistic model.

Timetable

14:00-14:15 Welcome
14:15-14:15 Icebreaker and short presentation of participants
15:00-15:15 Coffee break
15:15-16:00 Identifying and discussing concepts of smart cities
16:00-16:30 Discussion of missing pieces in smart cities
16:30-16.45 Coffee Break
16:45-17:30 Concept development of a holistic smart city
17:00-17.30-18.00 Closing of the day and future plans

Call for Participation

This one-day workshop aims to provide a forum for researchers, practitioners, and activists to discuss and extend current concepts regarding smart cities. This will be used to inform a new holistic approach to smart cities, including a range of stakeholders who currently have no representation or are under-represented in the process of developing new technologized environments. We invite anyone interested in participating to submit a four-page position paper (ACM Extended Abstract format). Papers should critically reflect on how the authors’ research or interests address issues related to smart cities. Authors’ prior experience does not have to be specifically concerned with smart cities, but the position papers will be expected to demonstrate how their work is relevant to the workshop’s topic and can be applied within the workshops’ context. Submissions should be sent to konstantin.aal(at)uni-siegen.de and/or tanja.ertl(at)uni-siegen.de in .pdf format. Position papers will be reviewed based on relevance and potential for contribution to the workshop. At least one co-author of each accepted paper must register to attend the workshop. It is the obligation of the author(s) to obtain written permission for quotations from unpublished material, for all quotations in excess of 250 words in one extract or 500 words in total from any work still in copyright, and for the reprinting of illustrations or tables from unpublished or copyrighted material.
Workshop Goals
Our workshop aims to invite researchers, practitioners and activists with diverse backgrounds to discuss the current concepts regarding smart cities and possible directions for future developments. In particular, in line with ongoing digitalization and urbanization processes, where cities and natural spaces are becoming increasingly intertwined, we want to consider a holistic approach to smart cities. In our discussions, we want to give special attention to important stakeholders who don’t currently have a voice in this discussion, such as nature and wildlife, but also minorities e.g. people living with dementia or refugees.

A Critical View on Smart Cities: Engaging Further Stakeholders