Exploring More-than-Human Smart Cities: The Emergent Logic of a Design Workbook

This chapter describes a process and line of thought developed by our design research team as we explored how smart cities might include ‘more-than-humans’, particularly living non-humans and for our team, mainly animals. The project was inspired by and pursued alongside researchers from five UK universities and two community organisations via a programme of participatory and design-led engagements with a variety of (human) stakeholders in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. As newcomers to the field, our design team investigated the topic by generating a workbook of design proposals and fictions: collections of simple propositions that contain a few images, words, and titles to convey an idea. The chapter provides examples from the workbook and discusses the value of an open, emergent design process and highlights the transformative potential of embracing a more-than-human perspective in reshaping our understanding and implementation of smart city designs.