Obduracy and Urban Sociotechnical Change

Abstract

Although cities are considered to be dynamic places, it may be difficult to make significant adjustments in the design of cities: Once built, cities become obdurate, immobile, and fixed. Drawing on recent research in the field of science, technology, and society studies on the obduracy of technological objects, a case study of large-scale urban redesign of the city center of the Dutch city Utrecht is analyzed: Hoog Catharijne. Using Bijker’s concept of technological frame, the problem of obduracy in this redesign process is analyzed.