Affiliations: [a] Lyons Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Lyon, Lyon, France | [b] Faculty of Law, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Benoit Granier, Junior Research Fellow, Lyons Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Lyon, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon 15 Parvis René Descartes, BP 7000 69342 Lyon Cedex, France. Tel.: +33 437 37 6433; E-mail:[email protected]
Abstract: In recent years, ``smart cities'' have rapidly increased
in discourses as well as in their real number, and raise various issues.
While citizen engagement is a key element of most definitions of smart
cities, information and communication technologies (ICTs) would also have
great potential for facilitating public participation. However, scholars
have highlighted that little research has focused on actual practices of
citizen involvement in smart cities so far. In this respect, the authors
analyse public participation in Japanese ``Smart Communities'', paying
attention to both official discourses and actual practices. Smart
Communities were selected in 2010 by the Japanese government which defines
them as ``smart city'' projects and imposed criteria such as focus on energy
issues, participation and lifestyle innovation. Drawing on analysis of
official documents as well as on interviews with each of the four Smart
Communities' stakeholders, the paper explains that very little input is
expected from Japanese citizens. Instead, ICTs are used by municipalities
and electric utilities to steer project participants and to change their
behaviour. The objective of Smart Communities would not be to involve
citizens in city governance, but rather to make them participate in the
co-production of public services, mainly energy production and distribution.
Keywords: Smart city, smart community, participation, co-production, acceptance, Japan
