Paper | Advisory Today, Co-decisive Tomorrow?
Academic Output
Advisory Today, Co-decisive Tomorrow? Complementing the Participation Ladder in Smart City Innovation with Institutional Learning Perspectives
Keywords: smart city, participatory design, participation ladder, institutional learning
Authors:
Tessa Steenkamp, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Mike de Kreek, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Kars Alfrink, Delft University of Technology
Martijn de Waal, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Abstract
The question we explore in this paper is: What are the current constraints and challenges of ladder-based participation models In participatory smart city R&D, and how might learning-oriented approaches offer a complementary perspective? We explore this question through a year-long participant-observation study of a participatory research and development project focused on object recognition technology in public space in Amsterdam.
This project not only engaged citizens in shaping urban technology but also challenged the professional, institutional, and political boundaries of what constitutes participation in the smart city. We identified six key developments that emerged during the course of the project and analysed how the participatory process was implemented across them. The results resonate with critical literature on participatory governance in smart cities, particularly the difficulty of sustaining citizen influence in co-decisive roles over time.
We argue that the temporal dynamics of influence and institutional uptake observed in this case point to significant opportunities for collaborative and institutional learning in ladder-driven innovation projects.