The study aims to analyze the rise of the smart city as a global project for the improvement of the territorial governance of social and economic development in late capitalist society. By using the methodology of the French regulation school, the author shows that political and economic significance of the smart city projects is defined by their role in the global network of information exchange characteristic of the post-Fordist regime of accumulation. Through the analysis of the smart city’s role in stimulating innovations and maintaining the consumption patterns needed for the continuing market growth the present research demonstrates the objective necessity of installation of the city-centered system of global developmental governance.