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A panel discussion on Monday, April 27 will mark the launch of “Smart as a City: The Politics of Test-Bed Urbanism,” a new book by Burcu Baykurt, assistant professor of communication. The event, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Integrative Learning Center Hub, will explore so-called “smart city” initiatives and their broader implications for technology, governance and urban life. The event is open to all. Those interested in attending may RSVP online. 

Baykurt will be joined in conversation by anthropologist Sareeta Amrute of The New School for Social Research and UMass faculty members Jonathan Corpus Ong, professor of global digital media, and Timothy Pachirat, professor of political science. 

“Smart as a City” (University of California Press, May 2026) examines how “smart city” initiatives, which integrate digital technologies into infrastructure and public services, are implemented and experienced at the local level. Drawing on ethnographic research in Kansas City, Missouri, Baykurt follows civic entrepreneurs, residents and city officials during the rollout of a citywide gigabit internet service and various municipal pilot projects.

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The book argues that “smartness” is not simply a technological upgrade, but a contested process shaped by local needs and inequalities. Baykurt writes that aligning civic concerns with emerging technologies is often difficult and produces mixed results, with data-driven systems sometimes reinforcing—rather than solving—existing disparities.

“Baykurt’s ethnography crackles with insight, exposing how flashy ‘innovation’ and hollow promises of reinvention often sideline community wisdom and the real sources of urban inequity,” says Ruha Benjamin, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American studies at Princeton University. “This book is a stirring reminder that lasting justice requires valuing the people who understand their cities from the ground up.”

The event is hosted by the Research and Intellectual Life Committee in the Department of Communication and supported the Global Technology for Social Justice Lab (GloTech) and the Ethnography Collective at UMass Amherst.