The multi-politics of urban transformations The shaping, disruption and liminality of transport technologies

Summary The multi-politics of urban transformations. The Shaping, disruption and liminality of transport technologies In this dissertation, I explore the relationship between politics and development of technology, using case studies from Belgrade, Serbia. My aim is to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of this relationship. I use qualitative research methods and analyze three specific cases – the transport planning sector in Belgrade, the Belgrade metro project, and an elevator for cyclists. In all three cases, politicians, administrators, designers, researchers, and the public, interacted in the technology development, but with different outcomes. Thus, each case offers a different perspective on the complex and paradoxical characteristics of technology development, respectively addressed in three separate papers. The first paper analyzes the relationship between politics and the professional work of those who are employed or contracted by the city of Belgrade to instigate, design and maintain transport technologies. The findings show that engagement of political actors in these planning environments rarely results in singular, consistent and constructive input. Instead, it indicates how political agendas are often unclear, shifting, conflicting, and even disruptive to the design of transport technologies. The second paper analyzes the Belgrade metro that has been in-development for almost a century without being built. I explore what I call liminal characteristics to understand why the development processes is ongoing. The third paper analyzes the design and use of an elevator for cyclists. Here, the findings show how ambivalent design intentions and conflicts regarding use make the elevator both a resource and a source of problems. The thesis thus investigates the unpredictable and disruptive effects politics has on the design of technology, offering what I call a multi-political understanding of the social shaping of technologies. This challenges the widespread expectation that new technologies will univocally help realize political goals, such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The tie-up essay of the dissertation therefore discusses the implications of the multi-political shaping of technology for broader discussions about sustainability transformations. I her claim that acknowledging such political dynamics provides a more realistic starting point for engaging with and designing for more sustainable futures