Low Appetite for High Tech: When the Indifference of Inhabitants to Digital Mobilities Impedes a Smart Suburbs Project in Loos-en-Gohelle, France

Claire Tollis (1) , Alain L'Hostis (1) , Redha Boubakour (2)

1 LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport
2 AME-DEST - Dynamiques Economiques et Sociales des Transports

In low-density urban areas, technologies are expected to play a significant role in tackling the ongoing mobility transition. A multidisciplinary research project focused on how a smart suburbs project, in Loos-en-Gohelle, France, could be promoted through resident participation. However, both the low level of smartphone ownership and the lack of appetite for technological tools discredited the hypothesis that technologies were essential to a faster mobility transition in this periurban area. This experience raises questions about the feasibility as well as the coherence of an approach that seeks to combine public participation as an ethical commitment to research, with smart territories as a scientific and political project. The inhabitants engaged in the project expressed the need and a certain readiness for change with respect to mobility within the municipal area of Loos-en-Gohelle, but were significantly indifferent to technological solutions.

Mots clés: DIGITAL TOOLS; ICT; MOBILITY TRANSITION; MULTIDISCIPLINARTY; PARTICIPATION; PERIURBAN AREA; SMART SUBURB; SOCIAL INNOVATION

Mots clés: MOBILITE; MOBILITE DURABLE; ECOMOBILITE; ZONE PERIURBAINE; TECHNOLOGIE; ZONE URBAINE; BANLIEUE; SMARTPHONE; PARTICIPATION DU PUBLIC; LOOS-EN-GOHELLE

Domaines: Sociologie

Claire Tollis, Alain L'Hostis, Redha Boubakour. Low Appetite for High Tech: When the Indifference of Inhabitants to Digital Mobilities Impedes a Smart Suburbs Project in Loos-en-Gohelle, France. International Journal of Urban Planning and Smart Cities (IJUPSC), 2020, 1 (1), pp45-57. ⟨10.4018/IJUPSC.2020010104⟩. ⟨hal-03234865⟩