Rethinking public participation in the smart city Anthony M. Levenda Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma Noel Keough School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape, University of Calgary Melanie Rock Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary Byron Miller Department of Geography, University of Calgary Key Messages • Smart city technologies do not necessarily increase the level of citizen engagement. • The idea of a public is a plural, emergent phenomenon that requires careful consideration by planners to enhance equity and participation. • Critical perspectives should consider the way publics are formed in relation to smart city technologies. In efforts to become “smart cities,” local governments are adopting various technologies that promise opportunities for increasing participation by expanding access to public comment and deliberation. Scholars and practitioners encounter the problem, however, of defining publics—demarcating who might participate through technology‐enhanced public engagement. We explore two case studies in the city of Calgary that employ technologies to enhance public engagement. We analyzed the cases considering both the definition of publics and the level of citizen participation in areas of participatory budgeting and secondary suites. Our findings suggest that engaging the public is not a straightforward process, and that technology‐enhanced public engagement can often reduce participation towards tokenism. City councillors and planners need to critically confront claims that smart cities necessarily enhance participation. Moving beyond tokenism requires understanding “public” as a plural category. Municipal governments should seek to proactively engage citizens and communities utilizing helpful resources including, but not limited to, digital tools and smart technologies. This would allow planners to keep a “finger on the pulse” of publics' concerns, better identifying and addressing issues of equity and social justice. It is also important to consider how marginalized publics can best be recognized in order to bring their concerns to the fore in decision‐making processes. Keywords: smart cities, publics, citizen participation, Calgary Repenser la participation du public dans la ville intelligente Dans les efforts qu'ils déploient pour façonner des « villes intelligentes », les gouvernements locaux adoptent diverses technologies qui promettent d'accroître la participation en élargissant l'accès aux consultations et aux délibérations publiques. Les universitaires et les praticiens sont toutefois confrontés au problème de définir les publics cibles, limitant ainsi les catégories de personnes qui pourraient participer à une mobilisation sociale améliorée par la technologie. Dans ce texte, nous analysons deux études de cas à Calgary, cas où l'on utilise les The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien 2019, 1–15 DOI: 10.1111/cag.12601 © 2020 Canadian Association of Geographers / L'Association canadienne des géographes Correspondence to / Adresse de correspondance: Anthony M. Levenda, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, 100 E Boyd St. Norman, OK 73019. Email/Courriel: anthonylevenda@ou.edu