The Internet of Things in the Smart City: a Discourse-Analytic Approach

The chapter sets out to provide a discourse-analytic account of the smart city discourse and the related concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), looking at how they are both constructed in media discourse in English. The Guardian Cities website, a digital platform committed to treating urban issues from a globalised perspective, is the selected media source. The analysis shows that the smart city and the IoT still remain controversial notions, with competing attitudes polarised between uncritical enthusiasm on the one hand and skepticism, doubt and fear on the other. At the same time, an appreciable attempt to decouple the notion of city smartness from ICT surveillance of citizens’ future needs is detectable, which also invokes more inclusive and flexible knowledge frameworks that find their articulation in and through discourse. In this evolving scenario in which, admittedly, citizens have so far had a limited understanding and experience of ‘ smartmentality, the impact of user feedback will hopefully gain strength and acquire greater incisiveness.