Contesting ubicomp visions through ICT practices: Power negotiations in the meshwork of a technologised city

This article discusses the case of the Finnish city of Oulu which is designed and constructed as a prototype of an intelligent city equipped with ubiquitous computing technology. By analysing ethnographic materials, the authors explore how the strategies, i.e. the conceptions and goals of urban development by the designers and decisionmakers, meet the tactics (i.e. the everyday practices of the ageing and young adult city dwellers. By looking at this specific urban space as a meshwork, the authors argue that the design visions are based on the assumption that this high-tech city is full of competent and enthusiastic ubicomp users. The stories of the urbanites, however, show that though they utilise and appreciate the ubiquitous technology to a certain extent, they also resist the new enabled practices by refusing to attend to personal matters in public places. The study also unravels the notion that age as a singular category can explain people’s relations with information and communication technologies (ICTs).