Data-politics in the urban control room: Exploring on-ground manifestations of data-powered smart cities

Keywords: data politics, smart cities, global south, command centres, digital infrastructure
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The Integrated Command, Control and Communication Centre (IC4) is an urban control centre in the city of Kochi in South India that is intended to allow coordination across multiple urban governance functions. These functions are to be gathered within a unified dashboard within a secure control room with large video walls. I conducted a five-month ethnographic study of the Command Centre, interviewing the creators of the IC4 as well as key stakeholders in the city of Kochi. Contributing to literature on actually existing smart cities, this research shows how technofuturistic visions of digitally mediated urban governance fails when there is inadequate interest from the local government and a lack of a constant flow of urban data with which to run the dashboard. The various government departments are not particularly interested in the IC4 and they are unable to supply the constant stream of data that the IC4 requires to be fulfil its function. The politics of the local government is seen as an impediment to the implementation of central government envisioned smart city projects and the Kochi Municipal Corporation has been largely side-lined since their implementation. However, despite the narrative of the IC4 as unsuccessfully implemented, it continues to be exhibited as a smart city success story.