Martin de Jong is Ajunct Professor of Institute for Gloabl Public Policy at Fudan University, Scientific Director of the Erasmus Initiative 'Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity' and Professor at both Rotterdam School of Management and Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He spent 25 years of his working life at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of Delft University of Technology and climbed the ranks there from PhD student to Antoni van Leeuwenhoek research professor in ‘urban and infrastructure development in China’. In this period he has also worked or been a visiting scholar at University of Amsterdam, George Mason University, Aalto University, Harbin Institute of Technology and Dalian University of Technology.
Globally, smart cities attract billions of dollars in investment annually, with related market opportunities forecast to grow year-on-year. The enormous resources poured into their development consist of financial capital, but also natural, human and social resources converted into infrastructure and real estate. The latter act as physical capital storage and sites for the creation of digital products and services expected to generate the highest value added. Smart cities serve as temporary spatial fixes until new and better investments opportunities emerge. Drawing from a comprehensive range of publications on capitalism, this article analyzes smart city developments as typifier of 21st century capital accumulation where the financialization of various capitals is the overarching driver and ecological overshoot and socio-economic undershoot are the main negative consequences. It closely examines six spatial manifestations of the smart city – science parks and smart campuses; innovation districts; smart neighborhoods; city-wide and city-regional smart initiatives; urban platforms; and alternative smart city spaces – as receptacles for the conversion of various capitals. It also considers the influence of different national regimes and institutional contexts on smart city developments. This is used, in the final part, to open a discussion about opportunities to temper the excesses of 21st century capitalism.
