Introduction

Some of the most nuanced and convincing work on digital communities is inspired by stories that enable learning and reflection. In many ways, this distinguishes between the fantasy imagery that informs the smart city visual narratives and the ‘real’ cities referred to in Chapter 1. The quantitative work on the application of smart technologies, the statistics on the range of uses and landscapes of digital access do, however, provide an important backdrop to the tales that unfold in urban settings. Contextualized accounts of the use of digital tools inform an instinctive yet rigorous socio-technical lens that sees human and material agency as co-productive. The ways through which new technologies are appropriated determine how they ‘land’ in particular contexts. That is not the end of the process, however; how they land and what contributes to the evolution of disruptive practices is intimately tied to the qualities of place (Aurigi and Odendaal, 2021). There is also a temporal dimension where, for example, digitally enabled problem solving ‘on the go’ in informal settings could change from day to day. Those living in particularly marginal circumstances use a ‘suite’ of tools at different times to negotiate city life. The aim of this chapter is to explore the conceptual lenses that enable such strategies to be surfaced.

A more finely grained approach to accounts of technology use is often contrary to the visual and technical narratives that portray the smart city. These often contrast with the textures of contemporary urban spaces. In Chapter 1, I outlined some of the issues that emerge when applying the smart city concept to African cities. Elsewhere, I have argued that the examination of socio-technical practices represents an opportunity for engaging contemporary urbanity in the Global South, as marginal circumstances often drive innovation through necessity (Odendaal, 2020). By exploring how technology and livelihoods rub up against each other, I answer the call of Söderström and McFarlane (among others) for an enquiry into ‘how digital technologies might practically become embedded in the already existing worlds of urban life’ (McFarlane and Söderström, 2017: 313).