Crises —whether economic collapses, pandemics, natural disasters, or political upheavals— have often been described as powerful catalysts for state interventions that might otherwise be considered politically unfeasible or socially unacceptable. COVID-19, 9/11, the ‘migration crisis’. These crises have motivated the roll-out of digital solutions, sometimes driven by public-private partnerships, a pattern that has recently been described as a ‘smartness mandate’ (Mitchell and Halpern 2023). But rather than following a standard pathway, crisis-driven digitalization is technologically, geographically, institutionally, and politically variegated. Therefore, this workshop has two aims. The first is to explore, beyond ‘shock doctrine’ (Klein 2007) narratives, the diversity of crisis-driven processes of digitalization at local governance level. The second is to interrogate the afterlives and varied impacts of crisis interventions.

Participation is free of charge but requires registering by e-mail until 19 May.