Title: Digital Geographies and Smart City
Convenor and lecturer: Prof. Ayona Datta, UCL; Prof. Wen-I Lin, NTPU
Guest Lecturer: For 5 guest lectures and seminars, experts/professionals from the public, private and third sector.
Introduction of specially Invited Lecturer: Professor Ayona Datta, UCL
Professor Ayona Datta, a leading human geographer at University College London (UCL), is internationally recognized for her influential research on urban futures, smart cities, and digital governance in the Global South. Her interdisciplinary expertise spans urban development, feminist geographies, and digital transformations, focusing on the critical intersections of technology, equity, and spatial justice in rapidly urbanizing contexts. Professor Datta serves as the Editor of Urban Geography and an editorial board member of leading international journals like Dialogues in Human Geography. Her pioneering work has earned her prestigious accolades such as the Busk Medal from the Royal Geographical Society, acknowledging her contributions to smart cities research. She has played a leading role of the Geography Section at the British Science Association. Widely sought after as a keynote speaker, she has presented at global forums, including the UN-Habitat, EU and international academic conferences.
Her recent work focuses on smart urbanism in the Global South, exploring how digital technologies transform urban governance while perpetuating or challenging inequalities. Her European Research Council-funded project, Regional Futures, examines the territorial politics of digitalization as urbanization, with fieldwork in cities like Nairobi, New Delhi, and Mexico City. This research offers comparative insights into the socio-political implications of digital urbanization. Her prolific scholarship includes high-impact publications in top-tier journals and edited volumes, engaging critically with urban theory, governance paradigms, and feminist perspectives. For postgraduate students, this course will introduce the transformative impact of digital technologies on urban governance, space and everyday life. Covering topics like digital infrastructures, smart city initiatives, digital citizenship and labour, the course bridges theory and practice through global and regional case studies. It provides students with critical thinking grounded in diverse social, cultural, and political perspectives of digitalization and fosters engagement with cutting-edge research.
