What is it about?
The paper looks at the social dynamics of the development and maintenance of smart city platforms in Indonesia. The process is usually presented as a linear planning process of needs assessment, specification, and implementation. Our research shows that the process can be better described as an improvisational process based on existing components — planning and doing coincide.
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Why is it important?
The perspective of bricolage can prevent many planning mistakes that result from technocratic abstractions during the design of smart city platforms. Looking at platform-building from an improvisational perspective allows to understand emerging processes of co-creation and collective creativity.
Perspectives
The metaphor of the "platform" is ubiquitous, but rarely critically examined. However, when we talk about platforms, we often imply different things and characteristics — from a fully-specified technical environment to a loose association of people, ideas, and social relationships. As a result, the discourse around platform governance, platform building, platform capitalism, etc. is often muddled by conflicting connotations and assumptions. The paper attempts to disentangle these issues both based on literature and the social practices observed in the case studies.
Dietmar Offenhuber
Northeastern University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The platform and the bricoleur—Improvisation and smart city initiatives in Indonesia, Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science, September 2019, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/2399808319865749.
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