Visitor spotlight: Emil Nøranger Kruse
Visiting PhD Candidate, Emil Nøranger Kruse (Roskilde University - Department of People and Technology)
In my research, I investigate how smart city practices in Denmark and Sweden are constituted through the increasing use of digital technologies and data as (dis)enabling tools in the green transition. Drawing on over 50 interviews and a qualitative ethnographic approach, I explore how public and private actors engage in everyday practices shaped by imagined futures and imperatives of scalability. As Pfotenhauer et al. (2022) observe, scalability has become central to policy and innovation discourses, positioning digital solutions as universally replicable fixes for societal challenges. Yet, this imaginary often masks the relational and heterogeneous nature of sociotechnical change. Building on Schatzki’s (2002) theorization of practices as organized constellations of sayings and doings, I focus on the situated routines, tensions, and knowledge configurations that underlie the implementation of smart city technologies. Rather than treating digital transformations as seamless, my research reveals their inherent messiness, and the frictions embedded in attempts to scale. In doing so, I also draw on Jasanoff’s (2015) concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to examine how visions of future urban life shape present-day decisions, highlighting both the promise and the politics of digital innovation in sustainable urban governance.
Event Details
- Date:
- 31 August 2026 at 1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Description
Visiting PhD Candidate, Emil Nøranger Kruse (Roskilde University - Department of People and Technology)
In my research, I investigate how smart city practices in Denmark and Sweden are constituted through the increasing use of digital technologies and data as (dis)enabling tools in the green transition. Drawing on over 50 interviews and a qualitative ethnographic approach, I explore how public and private actors engage in everyday practices shaped by imagined futures and imperatives of scalability. As Pfotenhauer et al. (2022) observe, scalability has become central to policy and innovation discourses, positioning digital solutions as universally replicable fixes for societal challenges. Yet, this imaginary often masks the relational and heterogeneous nature of sociotechnical change. Building on Schatzki’s (2002) theorization of practices as organized constellations of sayings and doings, I focus on the situated routines, tensions, and knowledge configurations that underlie the implementation of smart city technologies. Rather than treating digital transformations as seamless, my research reveals their inherent messiness, and the frictions embedded in attempts to scale. In doing so, I also draw on Jasanoff’s (2015) concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to examine how visions of future urban life shape present-day decisions, highlighting both the promise and the politics of digital innovation in sustainable urban governance.