About
In my doctoral research, I have explored digitization of urban governance and planning, exploring smart city initiatives in three European cities.
Smart cities have become a very popular term in international planning discourse in recent decades, and a large number of cities in the world have sought to develop smart strategies, focusing on big data collection, artificial intelligence, automation and data platforms. Through case study research in Stavanger, Stockholm and Nottingham, my thesis has contributed to the call to explore actually existing smart cities, critically assessing how local actors negotiate, mobilize and motivate smart urbanism. The thesis has demonstrated how actors at the local level work strategically to mould and negotiate smart urbanism, resulting in smart cities being strategically curated within specific contexts.
To explore the motivation driving pursuits of smart urbanism, the thesis draw on theories from the fields of hope and utopianism. Although the term utopia is often seen as an expression of naivety and unrealistic dreams, many uphold utopia as an important tool for social critique. By describing future ideals, the formulation of utopias gives expression to longings and perceived shortcomings in the present. Exploring utopian formulations can therefore give us an insight both into which futures are desired, but also what these reveal about perceptions of the already existing. In my research, I have developed and employed Utopia As Method (UAM) to attend critically to the ideal urban futures envisioned and sought under smart city initiatives, as well as their potential implications. The thesis has pointed to how the futures sought under smart urbanism promotes increased privatization, surveillance and control. It has also demonstrated how an analytical application of utopia has a wide potential for assessing underlying motivations and perceptions of urban development strategies beyond smart urbanism.
Alongside my research, I have been responsible for organizing the OsloMet Urban Research Conference/Storbykonferansen (www.storbykonferansen.no). I am also one of the editors, as well as editorial secretary, for the Nordic Journal of Urban Studies (https://www.idunn.no/njus)
Field of study
Town planning Utopias Climate Mobility Feminism Omstilling Areaplanning Smart city
Research groups
Research projects
Ongoing research projects
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TRUST: Transforming Relations in Urban Sustainability Transitions
TRUST delivers new knowledge and innovative theatre-based tools for participatory processes to better accommodate diverse personal narratives and situated experiences in urban sustainability transitions.
Publications and research
Scientific publications
Wullf-Wathne, Marikken
; Isaksson, Karolina
(2026).
Digitized utopias: Public service delivery in smart Stockholm.
Futures: The journal of policy, planning and futures studies.
Vol. 175.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103712
Wullf-Wathne, Marikken
(2024).
The utopian logics of “Smart Stockholm”: Visibility, predictability, and controllability.
Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning.
Vol. 146.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104784
Wullf-Wathne, Marikken
(2020).
Alternatives in the academe: swimming with absurd flippers.
Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2020.1784104
Wathne, Marikken Wullf
; Haarstad, Håvard
(2020).
The smart city as mobile policy: Insights on contemporary urbanism.
Geoforum.
Vol. 108.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.12.003
Haarstad, Håvard;
Wathne, Marikken Wullf
(2019).
Are smart city projects catalyzing urban energy sustainability?.
Energy Policy.
Vol. 129.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.03.001
Haarstad, Håvard;
Wathne, Marikken Wullf
(2018).
Smart cities as strategic actors: Insights from EU Lighthouse projects in Stavanger, Stockholm and Nottingham.
Karvonen, Andrew; Cugurullo, Fredrico; Caprotti, Fredrico (Ed.).
Inside Smart Cities: Place, Politics and Urban Innovation.
Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351166201-7
Haarstad, Håvard; Sareen, Siddharth; Wanvik, Tarje Iversen; Grandin, Jakob; Kjærås, Kristin Edith Abrahamsen; Oseland, Stina Ellevseth; Kvamsås, Hanna; Lillevold, Karin;
Wathne, Marikken Wullf
(2018).
Transformative social science? Modes of engagement in climate and energy solutions.
Energy Research & Social Science.
Vol. 42.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.03.021
