Sociological Explanation of the Concept and Possibility of “Right to the Smart City”

Right to the Smart City is an emerging concept which points to the possibility of claiming the right to the city by the citizens of the smart city. Citizen-centric smart cities are what urban policymakers assert to create by turning to smart technologies. It’s assumed that such a claimed approach can be operated in the tradition of reflexive urban governance by expanding availability of the smart city infrastructures to all citizens to have the right to produce, own, and consume spaces based on reflexive knowledge. The main question of this article is whether citizens of the smart city are in a practical discourse that can improve the quality of their urban life through changing the urban space based on the claiming for the right to the city. Based on theories about the relationship between citizens and the smart city categorized in three main discourses of “control city”, “creative city” and “smart citizen” and also Henri Lefebvre’s “Right to the City” theory, we have explained the concept of right to the smart city which can be expected to be fulfilled in the form of reflexive urban governance.