Designing urban citizenship A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2018 Gabriele I. Schliwa School of Environment, Education and Development Department of Geography Blank page 2 Table of Contents List of figures .........................................................................................................................6 List of tables ...........................................................................................................................7 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................8 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................9 Declaration .......................................................................................................................... 10 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 11 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 13 2 Conceptual framework ............................................................................................. 21 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 21 2.2 Urban citizenship between discourse and practice ................................................ 23 2.2.1 The ‘smart’ city and operations of citizenship ................................................ 25 2.2.2 The ‘hackable’ city and active citizenship .......................................................... 27 2.2.3 Events for ‘active’ citizenship: The case of civic hackathons ................... 30 2.3 DesiGn thinkinG for urban Governance innovation ................................................. 31 2.3.1 From GoverninG populations to solvinG urban problems .......................... 32 2.3.2 The computational nature of desiGn thinkinG: A short history .............. 36 2.3.3 Urban expansion of the diGital and experience economy.......................... 46 2.4 DesiGn thinkinG as a technoloGy of Government ...................................................... 49 2.4.1 Interoperability with urban computational dispositifs .............................. 51 2.4.2 DisciplininG citizens for computational problem-solvinG ......................... 53 2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 57 3 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 60 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 60 3.2 Research aim and reflexive approach ............................................................................ 61 3.2.1 Dispositif analysis throuGh episteme, techne and phronesis .................. 63 3.2.2 Research ethics and positionality .......................................................................... 66 3.2.3 Overview of research desiGn .................................................................................... 67 3.3 Case study selection and rationale .................................................................................. 69 3.3.1 The issue of concern: CyclinG ................................................................................... 69 3.3.2 The diGital milieu: Manchester’s innovation community .......................... 70 3.3.3 CycleHack as a critical case within the diGital milieu .................................. 71 3.3.4 The GeoGraphical context: Manchester (and the world) ............................ 73 3.4 Data collection and analysis ................................................................................................ 74 3.4.1 DetailinG mixed data collection methods ........................................................... 75 3.4.2 Data orGanisation and reflexive analysis ........................................................... 82 3.5 Limitations and reflections on the research process ............................................. 88 3.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 91 3 4 Designing community ............................................................................................... 93 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 93 4.2 ReimaGininG urban activism ............................................................................................... 94 4.2.1 From activism to ‘actionable’ ideas: “Let’s do a hack!” ............................... 98 4.2.2 ReimaGininG the city: Human-centred urban interaction .......................101 4.2.3 Connection to urban computational dispostifs .............................................105 4.3 Network confiGuration: Citizens .....................................................................................109 4.3.1 Network hosts: Social entrepreneurs and diGital desiGners ..................110 4.3.2 Network support: Brands, NGOs and local authorities .............................113 4.3.3 Network expansion: Researchers, citizens and positivity .......................117 4.4 Network error: People .........................................................................................................121 4.4.1 Politics: “ChanGinG deckchairs on the Titanic” ..............................................123 4.4.2 Non-smartness: “I don’t really understand computers” ..........................125 4.4.3 Disconnected: The other 99% of citizens in a city ......................................127 4.5 Network inteGration: The community at disposition ..........................................129 4.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................134 5 Designing new thinking ......................................................................................... 136 5.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................136 5.2 The desiGner: FacilitatinG computational processes ............................................137 5.2.1 CycleHack Global: “ToolinG up citizens” to solve problems ...................139 5.2.2 CycleHack Manchester: Supported by “DiGital Harvard” .........................140 5.3 The event: 48 hours to redesiGn cyclinG in the city ..............................................143 5.3.1 Event space: SteerinG coGnitive activity towards productivity ............144 5.3.2 On-time delivery: SteerinG coGnitive activity towards efficiency .......149 5.3.3 Completion of the event: ‘Actionable’ CycleHacks uploaded .................159 5.4 System inteGration: Creativity instead of criticality .............................................160 5.4.1 Human-centred problematisation: “Start with a barrier” .......................161 5.4.2 BuildinG computational capacity: “Re-frame the problem!” ..................163 5.4.3 Reinforcement throuGh feedback from the milieu ......................................168 5.5 System operation: Interactivity instead of activism .............................................169 5.5.1 KnowledGe extraction and synthesis: “LearninG by makinG” ................170 5.5.2 Systems thinkinG and scientific reasoninG ......................................................171 5.5.3 Further developinG instead of decision makinG ...........................................172 5.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................177 6 Designing urban experiences ............................................................................... 180 6.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................180 6.2 A new economy of urban experiences .........................................................................181 6.2.1 The urban as marketplace for interactive experiences ............................182 6.2.2 Urban citizenship as an experience ....................................................................187 4 6.3 Implementation within computational dispositifs................................................ 192 6.3.1 Hopeful marketisation of social and political issues .................................. 193 6.3.2 The ‘challenGe’ as commodity in the experience economy ..................... 196 6.3.3 The ‘community’ as source of experiential knowledGe ............................ 198 6.4 Dark patterns of urban desiGn thinkinG ...................................................................... 200 6.4.1 DesiGn thinkinG first, people second .................................................................. 201 6.4.2 Operational knowledGe politics in the ‘smart’ city ..................................... 204 6.4.3 Social fraGmentation for technoloGical fixes .................................................. 206 6.5 Innovation by the people who ride ..............................................................................