Citizen Science: A Learning Paradigm for the Smart City?

Developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have revolutionized learning; likewise, they have given a renewed impetus to Citizen Science in recent years. Promoting learning in a variety of dimensions has always been a primary objective of Citizen Science. Yet in practice, combining learning and citizen science activities is problematic for a variety of reasons, not least due to a lack of suitable tools. This paper illustrates the potential of the Citizen Observatory as a novel and innovative construct for enabling the adoption of citizen science thus enabling the promotion of; formal, informal and service learning, in a range of contexts. Such a development has clear ramifications for learning in the smart city amongst other scenarios. The paper is concluded with a case study outlining how one perspective of a Citizen Observatory is being harnessed in a traditional learning environment