Urban Techno-Politics: Knowing, Governing, and Imagining the City

Techno-politics is alive and well in cities of the twenty-first century, most prominently with the rise of smart cities and the digitalization of urban life but also in the myriad debates about climate and environment, social cohesion and democracy, and economic prosperity and well-being. This commentary uses the special issue on ‘Urban Techno-Politics’ as inspiration to reflect on three emerging trajectories of cities as embodied in the New Urban Science, networked governance, and sociotechnical imaginaries. Knowing, governing, and imagining cities are three significant ways that techno-politics will be undertaken in the coming decades.