Introduction: Smart Spaces and Places

Smart technologies have advanced rapidly throughout our society and across geographic spaces and places. The “smart” developments have presented unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the discipline of geography. This special issue of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers focuses on the theme of smart spaces and places from a wide range of perspectives. The collection of twenty-one articles included in this special issue offers stimulating discussion on emerging theories, conceptual frameworks, methodologies, and observations to address spaces, places, and smartness. The articles roughly belong to four topical categories: (1) spaces, places, and smartness; (2) analytical smartness; (3) critical smartness; and (4) smart sustainability and policy. Insights gained from the discussion will advance our discipline.