Dear Colleagues,

Subject: Call for Abstracts: "Smart rurality: Critically exploring the link between rural smartification, inequalities and exclusion," EASST-4S 2024 Conference, 16-19 July 2024 (Amsterdam)

Deadline: 12 February 2024

We are pleased to invite paper submissions to the Open Panel, "Smart rurality: Critically exploring the link between rural smartification, inequalities and exclusion,” at the EASST-4S 2024 Conference to be held 16-19 July 2024 in Amsterdam (https://www.easst4s2024.net/open-panels/#14434). This joint conference between the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) runs on the theme of “Making and Doing Transformations”. 

This panel seeks to critically engage with normative and empirically founded aspects of ‘smartness’ and ‘smartification’ in rural contexts. The ‘smart city’ debate has expanded exponentially in recent decades, both in research and in strategies of and for localities. The Covid-19 crisis, with its restrictions and restructuring, has pinpointed the strategic potentials of smartification, e.g. in the fields of e-governance and e-service provision. Nevertheless, the ‘smart city’ has become an overexploited concept or leitmotif on contemporary urban and local development. Moving beyond the dominant technology- and market-based readings of smartification that put the focus on urban settings, the notion of smart rurality is often either under-recognized or subjected to a development blueprint that does not necessarily fit rural realities, undermining their agency in (re)interpreting smartness and highlighting multidimensional processes of exclusion. Taking advantage of potentials for reflexivity, interdisciplinarity and intersectionality, STS scholars are poised to contribute to underlying debates in the making and doing of rural smartness.

We welcome both theoretical and inspiring empirical studies that contribute to a new conceptualization of smartification in non-urban contexts. The panel is meant as a discussion forum as well as a platform to bring together recent research in the field, opening opportunities for future collaborations. In particular, we invite: 

- Critical reflections on dominant readings of smart city and smart rurality concepts and their impacts on rural areas, including proposals for new interpretations of ‘smart’, ‘development’ and ‘innovation’
- Empirical studies exploring aspects of rural power, agency and exclusion in ‘smart’ regional initiatives or local projects
- Empirical studies on current uses of ‘smart’ in rural areas, including uses of and interactions with particular technologies
- Case studies that shed light on questions of inclusion, participation and under-recognized examples of rural smartification and innovation
 
Please find the full session description and instructions for submitting an abstract on the conference website: https://www.easst4s2024.net/open-panels/#14434. 

The call for abstracts is open until 12 February 2024. Only abstracts submitted through the conference portal may be considered. We look forward to reading your submissions!

Best Regards,

Bradley Loewen, PhD
Onsager Fellow (Associate Professor) in STS and sustainability transitions

Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture (KULT)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway | [log in to unmask] | http://www.ntnu.edu/employees/bradley.loewen

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