Smart city ideals have gained considerable global momentum and have become a prevailing framework for contemporary city planning and visions of urban futures.1 Across African metropolises and suburban regions alike, they have given rise to a wide range of technology-driven urban development initiatives, supported by ambitious local and national policy agendas, utility providers, mobile network operators, major corporations, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. These initiatives are often promoted as opportunities for “leapfrogging”—the idea that developing countries can skip conventional stages of industrialization by directly adopting advanced technologies. The goal is to accelerate economic growth while turning previously underserved or unserved populations into new markets. Kenya provides a telling example: Driven by the vision of a neoliberal, Silicon Valley–inspired tech utopia, it reveals how the precarious realities of the urban majority and the commons undermine such positivist visions.
