Beyond Data in the Smart City: Repurposing Existing Campus IoT

Abstract

In this article, the authors present a case study of their experiences in using existing IoT infrastructure to create a campus-scale "living laboratory" for promoting energy savings and environmental sustainability. As a series of lessons for others creating IoT systems from existing city infrastructures, they present the challenges they've experienced through their attempt to join and repurpose existing energy monitoring and building management systems as an IoT infrastructure for a "smart campus." They highlight the limitations of particular views of a campus from a purely data-driven perspective, advocating data-aware over data-driven approaches that engage a wide variety of stakeholders. Finally, they reflect on the inclusion of people's practices in understanding and designing smart cities and repurposing existing IoT. They also highlight the need for more careful consideration of ethics and domestication when creating smart campuses and the importance of challenging the existing rhetoric around energy waste in smart cities and smart buildings research. This article is part of a special issue on smart cities.