Path Dependency of Smart Cities : How Technological and Social Legacies Condition Smart City Development

Abstract

This paper develops a theoretical perspective on the path dependency of smart cities. Our perspective highlights both the physical and social dimensions of path dependency and also reflects on their interrelations. We present a case study of the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands to show the value of this perspective on the smart city. The empirical analysis highlights the importance of technological and social legacies. The research shows how an innovation program called the Glass River Maas formed an essential information infrastructure for further developing smart city projects (technological legacy). In addition, we identify certain networks of innovators that started to collaborate on earlier projects and now form the driving force behind current smart city developments in the city of Rotterdam (social legacy). This paper concludes that smart city choices can be understood on the basis of a historical analysis and therefore challenges the dominant assumption that the smart city is something totally new. We conclude that more comparative work is needed to understand the different smart city trajectories as evolving from technological infrastructures that were constructed in the past and social networks that were developed in earlier collaborations. Understanding the past of the city is crucial to understanding how its future is currently being shaped.