Urban service co-production and technology: nine key issues

ABSTRACT

This special issue investigates the role of technology in the co-production of urban services through six empirical articles based on case-studies from Asia, Africa and South America. This topic has not received yet extensive attention in the literature, despite the emergence of technology as the key mediator between the material and immaterial elements of co-production practice. Based on the analysis of the six contributions, this introductory paper presents nine key issues related to the role of technology in service co-production, which are considered from four analytical perspectives: materiality, knowledge, actors and outcome. Technology co-evolves with physical contexts and practices. It fosters synergic knowledge generation, while also being the product of its own application. It contributes to changing governance structures and the emergence of new intermediary actors. Finally, technology influences power dynamics and equality of access to service, resulting in service provision that may be inclusionary or exclusionary, emancipatory or restrictive.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-production
• urban service
• technology
• socio-technical
• knowledge co-production
• intermediaries
• equity
• global south

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique under Grant T.0174.16, in the framework of the PDR project ‘Typologies of Institutionalised Coproduction of Water and Sanitation Services in the Urban South’ (TYCO-WSS).

Notes on contributors

Giuseppe Faldi

Giuseppe Faldi is a post-doc researcher at the Faculty of Architecture La Cambre Horta, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He has a background in environmental and land planning engineering and holds a Ph.D. in Sustainable Development and International Cooperation from the Sapienza University of Rome. He specialises in urban and environmental planning, urban water management, climate change adaptation and scenario planning, with a specific interest in Global South cities. Currently, his research focuses on analysing typologies of institutionalised co-production of water and sanitation services in the urban South.

Marco Ranzato

Marco Ranzato is assistant professor at the Department of Architecture, Roma Tre University. The research he conducts on co-production, co-creation and participatory design questions the boundaries of the political space of design by concretely and critically recognising citizens and users as essential subjects for the production of inclusive and ecologically responsive configurations. He is also co-director of Latitude Platform for Urban Research and Design, a non-profit organisation strongly committed to context-anchored research and design and collaborating with universities, design offices, civil society organisations, public institutions and artists.

Luisa Moretto

Luisa Moretto is professor at the Faculty of Architecture La Cambre Horta, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She has a background in architecture and holds a Ph.D. in Analysis and Governance of Sustainable Development from the University of Venice. Her research interests are focused on urban development, governance, services and poverty. She also has professional experience with international organisations in the field of decentralised governance (Oslo Governance Centre–UNDP) and sustainable urban rehabilitation processes (Inter-American Development Bank). She is a former coordinator of N–AERUS (Network–Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South).