IN-PERSON Manchester Livable Cities
Abstract
The paper examines the various roles and functions of science in the context of smart city projects. It compares two models, discusses their complementarity and derives roles for scientific work on smart cities. A) Science for Smart Cities – This refers to a supportive role in which researchers accompany key actors (municipalities, policymakers, etc.) “from the side,” providing scientific grounding to help implement smart city strategies, projects, and technologies effectively. Scientific resources are selectively mobilized—by preparing and applying existing knowledge from disciplines such as sociology, ICT, or planning (keywords: quadruple helix, agile development, integrated urban development). B) Science of Smart Cities – This model aims to build robust conceptual foundations beyond case studies and singular experiences. It seeks a more distanced, analytical understanding of smart city developments, identifying overarching principles, methods, and models to explain and shape them systematically. This type of foundational research (keywords: technological path dependency, impact modeling, data value creation) is experimental, exploratory, and synthetic in nature. The central hypothesis is that smart city science primarily operates in Mode A—as applied, accompanying research or knowledge provision. However, key challenges (terminology, replication, validation, impact research, solution transfer) stem largely from the lack of foundational research (Mode B). Developing such foundations—together with mechanisms for translating them into practice, as seen in “translational research” in medicine—not only enhances the effectiveness and scalability of smart city approaches, but may be essential to their success.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Rainer NOENNIG is Professor for Digital City Science at HafenCity Universität in Hamburg and directs the WISSENSARCHITEKTUR Laboratory of Knowledge Architecture at TU Dresden. He studied architecture at Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Polytech Krakow and Waseda University Tokyo. Between 1998 and 2001 he practiced as architect in Tokyo. He was Research Associate at TU Dresden, where he was appointed Junior Professor for Knowledge Architecture. He worked at different Universities outside Germany, such as the Universita degli Studi dell l’Aquila, and the Toyo Universität Tokyo.
Anja Jannack, Dipl.-Ing. is a trained architect and graduated at TU Dresden in 2011 and is working since then as a Research Associate. Since 2017 she is Managing Director and Unit-Lead Participation & Co-Creation of WISSENSARCHITEKTUR – Laboratory of Knowledge Architecture. Besides teaching she currently works in the Model Project Smart City Dresden (2022-2026) and leads the sub-project “Smart Participation”. Before she led tasks in EU Project Smagrinet and Matchup. From 2016-2019 she worked on the EUH2020 Project U_CODE – Urban Collective Design Environment: A new tool for enabling expert planners to co-create and communicate with citizens in urban design.
Sebastian Wiesenhütter is a research associate at the TU Dresden’s Faculty of Architecture, currently working on the Modellprojekt Smart City Dresden (MPSC). With a background in architecture and over a decade of interdisciplinary project experience in digital design, knowledge architecture, and smart city research, he contributes to experimental design approaches and innovation processes. His work spans international research collaborations, teaching, and numerous publications at the intersection of design, technology, and urban systems.
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Wednesday 17th June, 2026