Envisaging Dataist Modernity

Who gets to imagine datafied visions of the future city (region) and why is it important to look at universities as powerful urban stakeholders?

The Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal (CRD) constitutes a long-term infrastructure investment that is designed to transform the city region into the »Data Capital of Europe«. Drawing on science and technology studies and urban studies, Nicolas Zehner explores the question of who gets to imagine what kinds of urban-regional futures by investigating the emergence and early implementation of this large, multi-stakeholder urban-regional development project. Demonstrating the growing influence of universities in shaping desirable futures, he introduces the notion of "dataist modernity" to characterise the contemporary relationship between science, technology and urban planning.