A critical snapshot of adaptation strategies in response to smart city initiatives: the case of Bucaramanga’s urban planning exclusion

The rise and focus of the urban city in the last century has been exponential and with it, brought many challenges to difficulties to residents. The changing face of urbanity has seen the growth of peripheralization and urban sprawl, which has been felt increasingly stronger in global southern countries. This has seen a growth in the peri-urban areas like the case of veredas in Colombia which are growing puzzles in how to effectively create policy in this vulnerable and excluded space. Through this panorama, the promise of smart city initiatives has grown in relevance in offering better efficiency in provisioning economic and political actions for better social development. This study addresses on how smart city initiatives that aim for better and more efficient inclusion can foster adverse effects. They could accentuate further exclusion of already marginalised areas like peri-urban zones like in the case of the vereda of Alsacia Malabar in Floridablanca Colombia. Specifically, it focuses on how the community exercises their agency and resilience in light of the growing exclusion and mismatched policy in their everyday lives with the use of personal information and communication technologies (ICTs). It tackles the topic by using a qualitative study and a content analysis of sampled policy documents to benchmark the nature of their exclusion, through positionality it takes a look at how their everyday lived experiences in managing the present and adverse difficulties of policy and the dynamics of the community to collectively organize themselves to resist these. The research showcased three main findings. The first one was the mass difficulty in mobility in the area sprawling into their livelihoods, development, and futures. The stark difference in this area from the urban center under the smart city guide showcased gaps to cover their needs. Secondly, the spread of digital education as a legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalization campaigns are reinforcing present inequalities and exclusions in the community. This not only force the geographical divide but a dual digital and social mobility divide. Finally, the community have not been salient but has organized itself by harnessing the use of mobile technology to challenge their exclusions in light of the mismatch between the community and the municipality. Through a look at their social, the agency showcased was not always harmonious but competitive and even subversive emphasising present hierarchies and perpetuating new ones based on the technological prowess by members.