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STS and the City

Politics and Practices of Hope

Laboratoire Techniques Territoires Sociétés (LATTS)

Simon Guy

University of Manchester

Many recent studies on network technologies and cities share an alarmist view of the impact of technological or regulatory change in utility sectors on the social and spatial fabric of cities, pointing to growing discrimination and inequalities, alienation, enhanced social exclusion and urban "splintering" on a universal scale.

A science and technology study (STS) perspective on these matters is helpful in moving beyond this "universal alarmism" by emphasizing the ambivalence inherent to all technologies, the significant potential of contestation of, and resistance, to technology-supported forms of discrimination, and the deeply contingent nature of the process of appropriation of new technologies and, as a consequence, of the social "effects" of technologies. Adopting this perspective would mean actively searching for and exploring these context-dependent and often conflictive appropriation processes. For it is in these spaces that we might begin to identify urban technological politics that break free from an intellectually and politically disabling technological pessimism.

Key Words: urban studies • technology studies • infrastructure networks • contingency • politics of hope

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This version was published on November 1, 2007

Science, Technology & Human Values, Vol. 32, No. 6, 713-734 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0162243907303600


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Coutard, O. Articles by Guy, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?