Contested autonomy in “smart” and “inclusive” innovation: test-driving transportation technology and policy in Pittsburgh

ABSTRACT

This article examines a period of experimentation in transportation technology and policy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the city transitioned from a finalist position in an interurban “smart city” competition to an autonomous vehicle research venture with Uber. Drawing upon analysis of policy documents, review of press accounts, and interviews with local stakeholders, I focus specifically on the contestation that emerged from the efforts of city leaders to advance an ideal of “inclusive innovation” throughout this phase of Pittsburgh’s development agenda. I argue that the experimental ethos of smart city approaches compounded by the economic imperatives of entrepreneurial urbanism challenged attempts to connect the city’s innovation agenda to inclusive development goals and introduced tensions over local autonomy at multiple stages of the process. The Pittsburgh case poses broader implications for efforts to promote equitable development within technocratic and entrepreneurial smart city programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart cities
• urban policy mobilities
• autonomous vehicles
• uneven development
• Uber

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences Summer Research Fellowship. I gratefully acknowledge Brenton J. Malin, Caitlin F. Bruce, and the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

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