What’s the alternative? The institutional logics of community-oriented smart city development

State- and corporate-led “top-down” approaches to smart city development are often contrasted with more community- and grassroots-led “bottom-up” perspectives. A key question is whether communities can meaningfully be involved in state- and corporate-led smart city strategies or whether alternative approaches offer more fertile environments for involvement in the smart city. Institutionalist analyses have addressed these issues through close examination of the socio-political context within which smart city activities take place. This paper extends the institutional analysis of the smart city by focusing on the institutional logics that frame smart city development and the institutional work done in sustaining it. It focuses on community-oriented smart city practices and the interstitial roles undertaken by civil society organizations in Mexico City. This paper presents an analysis of organizational activities and their underlying logics which illustrates the richness of practice within the smart city field. This analysis has broad relevance to understanding smart city development in the Global South.