Smart regions: insights from hybridization and peripheralization research

Antje Matern, Julia Binder and Anika Noack

European Planning Studies, 2020, vol. 28, issue 10, 2060-2077

Abstract: In recent years, discourse on urban development and planning has shifted its emphasis to smartness. Latest studies might offer ideas about planning objectives regarding territorial cohesion and how to meet the demand for information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. However, so far there is barely any literature on smart regions as relational and hybrid phenomena looking at urban and rural areas as being spatially interlinked. The article aims to generate a deeper theoretical understanding of smart regions by discussing hybridization and peripheralization processes and applying them to debates on smart regions. By merging these perspectives, these authors advocate a diversification of meaning and scope which underscores the involvement of actors in the social (re-)construction of regions. A new analytical perspective on smart regions will be suggested that distinguishes between the three dimensions of discourse, implementation and regulation and refers to concomitant spatial effects as well as to implications for planning practices and procedures. Therewith, the paper encourages critical reflection on normative concepts of smart regions as well as on the usability of ICT for solving local problems.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2019.1703910

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