What Role for Citizens? Evolving Engagement in Quadruple Helix Smart District Initiatives

Hannah Devine-Wright and Anna R. Davies
Additional contact information
Hannah Devine-Wright: Geography, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland / European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter, UK
Anna R. Davies: Geography, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Urban Planning, 2023, vol. 8, issue 2, 70-80

Abstract: Globally, smart city initiatives are becoming increasingly ubiquitous elements of complex, sociotechnical urban systems. While there is general agreement that cities cannot be smart without citizen involvement, the motivations, means, and mechanisms for engaging citizens remain contested. In response, this article asks what the role of citizens is in two recently established smart districts within the wider Smart Dublin programme: Smart Sandyford, a business district, and Smart Balbriggan, a town north of Dublin with Ireland’s most ethnically diverse and youthful population. Using multiple methods (online and in-person interviews, site visits, a focus group, and participant observation), this article specifically examines how the “quadruple helix,” a popular concept within innovation studies and one that is adopted in promotional materials by Dublin’s emerging smart districts, is used by key actors as an overarching framing device for activities. It finds that, to date, the quadruple helix concept is being applied simplistically and uncritically, without attention to pre-existing and persistent patterns of uneven power and influence between the different actors involved. As such it risks inhibiting rather than supporting meaningful citizen engagement for smart and sustainable places that both smart districts articulate as a key driver of their activities.

Keywords: citizen engagement; Dublin; hackathon; Ireland; quadruple helix; smart cities; smart districts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/6351 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:urbpla:v8:y:2023:i:2:p:70-80

DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i2.6351

Access Statistics for this article

Urban Planning is currently edited by Tiago Cardoso

More articles in Urban Planning from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().