LIST OF PANELS

Research objective & scientific relevance:

Cities today face a range of complex and interconnected challenges in their efforts to become environmentally safe, economically productive, sustainable, and inclusive. Issues such as rapid urbanisation, climate change, socio-spatial inequality, and ageing infrastructure are inherently difficult to address. Compounding these challenges is the fact that urban environments are complex adaptive systems with emergent properties accompanied by uncertainties, driven by both internal dynamics and external influences (Batty, 2009).

To tackle these challenges while pursuing sustainability goals amid competing resource demands, cities are increasingly embracing technology as a development and governance strategy. This shift is particularly evident in adoption of smart city strategies in urban development models (Hollands 2008, Albino et al. 2015, De Jong et al. 2015, Schraven at al. 2021), which emphasise the key role of technological innovation. While advanced technologies offer significant advantages, they also introduce new technical, societal, and governance challenges (Taeihagh et al. 2021), requiring enhanced government capacity and strategic planning. In this context, complexity-informed approaches offer a valuable framework for understanding and managing the intricacies of tech-driven urban environments (Sengupta et al. 2017). Yet, despite their benefits, the use of complexity-informed approaches remains limited in policy and governance settings (Eppel, 2017; Šucha, 2017, Nel and Taeihagh 2024).

This panel aims to identify and explore governance structures and policy frameworks that can effectively address the challenges and complexity in tech-driven cities. We will also examine how complexity-informed approaches and methods can be utilised to enhance urban governance and policymaking.

Research Questions:

1.      What are the policy challenges presented by the adoption of advanced technologies in cities?

2.      How can governments build policy capacities to manage the policy challenges of tech-driven urban environments such as smart cities?

3.      How can complexity-informed approaches be used in policy design to facilitate better governance of smart cities?

4.      How can adaptive and anticipatory governance strategies help cities manage advanced technologies in complex evolving urban environments?

5.      What policy capacities are needed to take advantage of complexity-informed approaches for smart city governance?

This panel welcomes papers from established and new researchers exploring the role of complexity-informed approaches in designing policies for tech-driven urban environments, such as smart cities. The panel positions itself at the intersection of advanced technologies, cities, and complexity science in policy design and governance literature. We seek contributions that provide insights into how complexity science can enhance urban governance, particularly in contexts marked by technological advancement and the need for responsive policy strategies.

The themes include but are not limited to the following:

1.      Studies exploring the specific policy challenges presented by the adoption of advanced technologies in urban environments.

2.      Conceptual, empirical, or case studies that showcase the application of complexity science in policymaking and policy design for tech-driven cities.

3.      Studies discussing strategies that increase the adoption of complexity-informed approaches in policy design.

4.      Research that examines the role of adaptive and anticipatory governance strategies in preparing for and managing the risks associated with advanced technologies in complex, evolving urban environments.

References

Angelidou, M. 2015. Smart cities: A conjuncture of four forces. Cities, 47, p. 95-106.

Albino, V., Berardi, U. & Dangelico, R. M. 2015. Smart cities: Definitions, dimensions, performance, and initiatives. Journal of Urban Technology, 22 (1), p. 3-21.

Batty, M., 2009. Cities as Complex Systems: Scaling, Interaction, Networks, Dynamics and Urban Morphologies, in: Meyers, R.A. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science. Springer, New York, NY, pp.

De Jong, M., Joss, S., Schraven, D., Zhan, C. and Weijnen, M., 2015. Sustainable–smart–resilient–low carbon–eco–knowledge cities; making sense of a multitude of concepts promoting sustainable urbanization. Journal of Cleaner production, 109, pp.25-38.

Eppel, E., 2017. Complexity thinking in public administration’s theories-in-use. Public Management Review 19, 845–861.

Hollands, R. G. 2008. Will the real smart city please stand up? Intelligent, progressive or entrepreneurial? City, 12 (3), p. 303-320.

Nel, D. and Taeihagh, A., 2024. The soft underbelly of complexity science adoption in policymaking: towards addressing frequently overlooked non-technical challenges. Policy Sciences, pp.1-34.

Schraven, D., Joss, S. and De Jong, M., 2021. Past, present, future: Engagement with sustainable urban development through 35 city labels in the scientific literature 1990–2019. Journal of Cleaner Production, 292, p.125924.

Šucha, V., 2017. A new role for science in policy formation in the age of complexity?, in: Love, P., Stockdale-Otárola, J. (Eds.), Debate the Issues: Complexity and Policy Making. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.

Sengupta, U., Doll, C.N., Gasparatos, A., Iossifova, D., Angeloudis, P., Baptista, M.D.S., Cheng, S., Graham, D., Hyde, R., Kraenkel, R. & Luo, J., 2017. Sustainable smart cities: applying complexity science to achieve urban sustainability.

Swanson, D., Barg, S., Tyler, S., Venema, H., Tomar, S., Bhadwal, S., Nair, S., Roy, D. & Drexhage, J. 2010. Seven tools for creating adaptive policies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 77 (6), p. 924-939.

Taeihagh, A., Ramesh, M. & Howlett, M. 2021. Assessing the regulatory challenges of emerging disruptive technologies. Regulation & Governance, 15 (04), p. 1009-1019.