Note: This call has been previously published, but the deadline for abstract submissions has now been extended to December 15.
IUR’s in-house journal Urban Matters is seeking contributions for the upcoming edition Challenging Technology’s Domination in the Urban: Critical Perspectives and Approaches.
The call:
In the context of urban digitalization, the role of technology in the production and control of both virtual and physical space has undergone a substantial increase. Digitalization has contributed to the democratization of planning tools and processes for urban systems in cities. Simultaneously, it has introduced a novel “ideology of technology” predicated on the assumption that urban issues can only be tackled through technological solutions. This view, Rosen & Alvarez Leon (2020) argue, has been instrumental in reshaping governance activities in the urban realm. This reconfiguration of urban governance is part of a broader phenomenon wherein technocentric, top-down modes of knowledge production are combined with the establishment of new markets for urban expertise (Kitchin et al. 2019). As a result, the development and control of urban technological infrastructures is in the hands of a cohort of stakeholders ranging from academic institutions to prominent private companies (namely, Tech Giants) and public administrations. Such actor constellations seek to legitimize courses of action through a pervasive narrative, often underpinned by corporate rhetorical displays, that prioritizes technological solutions at the expense of any other strategic approach. Such forms of “methodological asymmetries” draw upon the modernist assumption that technoscientific rationality is the only form of knowledge through which human agents can produce, organize and control space.
By opening up new perspectives on technology’s role for urban space and public services, our proposal aims to challenge the rhetoric of technology and the modernist assumptions on which it is founded. To that end, we draw upon the ontological framework of Emanuele Severino, whereby technology, understood in terms of scientific specialization, constitutes humankind’s interpretation of reality (Severino 2021). According to this ontological framework, human beings interpret the world by isolating parts (“species”) from the rest of reality in a manner that facilitates manipulation over the existing. Conceived as such, technology enacts a comprehensive mode of domination that is primarily reflected in the reorientation of human initiatives – including plan-making – towards rationales of specialization, rationalization, efficiency, productivity, and the linearity they imply (Gehlen 1980).
In the domain of urban affairs, this ontological framework sheds light on the disintegration of conventional expertise, superseded by the rise of “new urban technocrats” (Raco & Savini 2019). Large digital corporations, in particular, represent themselves as knowledge brokers for urban development and planning practices (Carr & Hesse 2022). In our current state of play, experts from the hard sciences including physicists, computer scientists, data scientists, and engineers (to mention but a few) are called to supplement urban planning practice with data-led solutions to diagnose and address urban problems (Karvonen et al. 2021). Drawing upon this critical understanding, we are interested in contributions that challenge the current patterns of technologization of planning and urban governance. Notably, we welcome works that frame urban technology as a non-neutral, historically contingent, culturally connotated, and post-political project of domination.
Contributions:
We invite abstracts that address the above-mentioned theme, as well as related topics. More specifically, we welcome contributions that cover, but are not limited to, the following areas:
1- Contributions from diverse disciplinary fields (e.g. urban and spatial studies, science and technology, critical data studies etc.) including both theoretical and empirical approaches, methodological experiments for investigating emerging forms of techno-scientific rationalities and their socio-spatial implications.
2- Exploring digitalization, its modalities (e.g. smart city model, urban informatics, digital renderings and techniques – AI, IoT’s for urban development, Digital Platforms etc.) and their relationship with physical dimension (e.g. infrastructural forms, social and local level impacts/consequences).
3- Studies critically investigating data-driven mechanisms and methods for urban planning processes, automation and data-driven governance structures.
4- Examining the role of technology in terms of production of knowledge (e.g. narratives, frameworks, discourses etc.), distribution, and circulation.
5- Tracing the role of transnational technological actors entering into the domain of public services and infrastructure services (e.g. health & care services, education, mobility, transportation, and logistic etc.), intersecting with local flow of service providers/suppliers.
Open Call?
Yes
Types:
Research articles, commentaries, interviews, book reviews.
Deadline for abstract submission:
December 15, 2025
Deadline for full-article submission:
February 15, 2026
Submit your articles by writing the guest editor Ruggero Signoroni at: ruggero1.signoroni@polimi.it
