Public-Private Partnerships in smart cities and the privatisation of citizenship

Bárbara Lazarotto and Paul De Hert

Chapter 9 in Handbook of Platform Urbanism, 2025, pp 115-127 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Local governments are increasingly facing the demands of population growth and societal pressures, leading them to adopt cross-sectoral technologies and join the ‘smart city’ trend. Often, this trend aligns with a market mindset, which emphasises profit objectives and forges public-private partnerships with multinational corporations. The symbiotic relationship between the public and private sectors transforms citizens into consumers of services, privatising citizenship and ceding local government control to private entities. This movement creates a legal vacuum, allowing the private sector to shape the public sector according to its principles. Thus, this chapter addresses critical questions about the role of public-private partnerships in citizenship, their impact on power relations in local governance, and the protective role of data regulations in smart cities.

Keywords: Smart cities; Public-private partnerships; Citizenship; Privatisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035313754
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