This article explores technological sovereignty as a way to respond to anxieties of control in digital urban contexts, and argues that this may promise a more meaningful social license to operate smart cities. First, we present an overview of smart city developments with a critical focus on corporatization and platform urbanism. We critique Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs development in Toronto, which faces public backlash from the #BlockSidewalk campaign in response to concerns over not just privacy, but also lack of community consultation, the prospect of the city losing its civic ability to self-govern, and its repossession of public land and infrastructure. Second, we explore what a more responsible smart city could look like, underpinned by technological sovereignty, which is a way to use technologies to promote individual and collective autonomy and empowerment via ownership, control, and self-governance of data and technologies. To this end, we juxtapose the Sidewalk Labs development in Toronto with the Barcelona Digital City plan. We illustrate the merits (and limits) of technological sovereignty moving toward a fairer and more equitable digital society.

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#BlockSidewalk 到巴塞罗那：技术主权和运营智慧城市的社会许可

本文探讨了技术主权作为应对数字城市环境中控制焦虑的一种方式，并认为这可能会为运营智慧城市提供更有意义的社会许可。首先，我们概述了智慧城市的发展，重点关注公司化和平台城市化。我们批评 Alphabet 在多伦多的 Sidewalk Labs 开发项目，该项目面临#BlockSidewalk 活动的公众强烈反对，原因不仅是对隐私的担忧，还有缺乏社区咨询、城市失去公民自治能力的前景，以及收回公共土地和基础设施。其次，我们探索以技术主权为基础的更负责任的智慧城市可能是什么样子，这是一种利用技术通过数据和技术的所有权、控制和自治来促进个人和集体自治和赋权的方式。为此，我们将多伦多的 Sidewalk Labs 开发项目与巴塞罗那数字城市计划并置。我们说明了朝着更公平、更公平的数字社会发展的技术主权的优点（和限制）。