Defence of dissertation in the field of Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering, MScEng Pascale-Louise Blyth

Driverless cars represent an emerging mobility technology the potential societal impact of which little is known. Questions of power, justice and civic rights engendered by the technology are sorely neglected. 

Drawing from Foucauldian concepts of power, the research articulates the urban planning keystone that technology affects people in the plural, at the multiple level, rather than the individual at the personal level. The research revealed power as the relation between domination by the technological infrastructure on the one hand and losses by society (a form of injustice) on the other, constituting a novel approach to transition- and mobility justice landscapes. 

As a result, this research offers new phronetic perspectives for urban planners and policy-makers on sociotechnical transitions in the emerging field of data-driven urbanism, including smart mobility and platform urbanism. 

The opponent is Dr. Caroline Mullen from Leeds University, UK.

The custos is Professor Raine Mäntysalo from the Department of Built Environment, Aalto University. 

Electronic Dissertation: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-3947-3
 
Doctoral candidate's contact information: Pascale-L. Blyth
Department of Built Environment, Aalto University
[email protected]

A doctoral dissertation is a public document and shall be available at Aalto University, School of Engineering’s notice board in Otakaari 4, Espoo at the latest 10 days prior to public defence.