Smart Cities and Infrastructure URBAN5151

  • Academic Session: 2025-26
  • School: School of Social and Political Sciences
  • Credits: 10
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course provides a critical appraisal of the smart city as both a major contemporary urban paradigm and a diversity of context-specific policy and practice infrastructure interventions centred upon digitalisation, and considers related opportunities and challenges for urban planning and development. 

Timetable

18 hours of timetabled on-campus teaching in Semester 2 delivered in 3 hourly blocks (1hr lecture + 2hr workshop), once per week, over 6 consecutive weeks.

Requirements of Entry

Mandatory Entry Requirements:

None

 

Recommended Entry Requirements:

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Academic essay, 2,500 words (100%)

 

Students are asked to demonstrate an understanding of core smart city concepts, approaches to implementing smart city infrastructure, and how this relates to the overarching challenge of sustainability.

Course Aims

The course aims to introduce students to, and provide a critical appraisal of, the smart city as a major paradigm of contemporary urban policy, as well as the diverse range of smart city infrastructure initiatives and applications encountered in a multitude of towns and cities across the world. It discusses different planning processes and tools used to implement smart city infrastructure projects, and critically considers how smart cities may contribute to the twin goals of sustainability and public participation.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

■ Describe and explain different conceptual understandings of the smart city, smart city infrastructure types and related theoretical perspectives.

■ Empirically analyse and compare different practical approaches to, and examples of, smart city infrastructure implementation, including how planning processes and tools are incorporated into these.

■ Critically assess how smart city infrastructure can be used to improve urban sustainability and increase public participation and community engagement.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.

 

Minimum requirement for award of credit for students on MSc City Planning is D3 or above.

 

University standard regulations apply to students on other qualifications.