In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged in ever more communities, and is now beginning to make traction in Maker (self-taught tinkerers) oriented communities as well. Similar movements are happening in the Smart City domain, and it is now interesting to look at how the two terms collide. A natural consequence is that it is important to investigate how IoT tools and enablers are actually being developed and used by diverse communities. IoT is no longer for the selected few, since Makers, and even non-tech people are engaging with IoT on a daily basis (in the Smart City), and they want to be able to exploit the endless possibilities that lie within this domain. The term developer is no longer describing an exclusive group of people, with special competencies or technical backgrounds. The definition of a developer is broadening, and anyone can more or less see themselves as Smart City application creators. This shift can be seen when looking at communities like Arduino and Processing. These communities have made technology widely accessible, and now most people can develop rather complex systems with minimum efforts. The natural question is then to ask how we can develop IoT tools that foster usage on different levels without excluding experts or Makers. If IoT tools are too simple experts will not use them, and freedom is lost. If tools are too complex, Makers cannot use them.

In this session the focus is on co-creating smart cities. This domain is relevant since cities worldwide are rapidly changing into smart interconnected systems, both from a technological and a mindset perspective. Cities are being instrumented with new technologies every day, and citizens are trying to keep up with the new abilities technology brings to the table. Now that cities are becoming intertwined complex ecosystems, it is time to investigate how to empower citizens to take active part in shaping the Smart City through IoT.