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from the but-I-thought-we-built-this-city-on-rock-and-roll dept.
A singular focus on high-tech will dilute the vibrancy of our cities and limit their potential:
The term "smart cities" originated as a marketing strategy for large IT vendors. It has now become synonymous with urban uses of technology, particularly advanced and emerging technologies. But cities are more than 5G, big data, driverless vehicles, and AI. They are crucial drivers of opportunity, prosperity, and progress. [...]
A focus on building "smart cities" risks turning cities into technology projects. We talk about "users" rather than people. Monthly and "daily active" numbers instead of residents. Stakeholders and subscribers instead of citizens. This also risks a transactional—and limiting—approach to city improvement, focusing on immediate returns on investment or achievements that can be distilled into KPIs.
Truly smart cities recognize the ambiguity of lives and livelihoods, and they are driven by outcomes beyond the implementation of "solutions." They are defined by their residents' talents, relationships, and sense of ownership—not by the technology that is deployed there.
[...] Where technology can play a role, it must be applied thoughtfully and holistically—taking into account the needs, realities, and aspirations of city residents. Guatemala City, in collaboration with our country office team at the UN Development Programme, is using this approach to improve how city infrastructure—including parks and lighting—is managed. The city is standardizing materials and designs to reduce costs and labor, and streamlining approval and allocation processes to increase the speed and quality of repairs and maintenance. Everything is driven by the needs of its citizens. Elsewhere in Latin America, cities are going beyond quantitative variables to take into account well-being and other nuanced outcomes.
[...] Coordinating and implementing the complex efforts required to reach these goals is far more difficult than deploying the latest app or installing another piece of smart street furniture. But we must move beyond the sales pitches and explore how our cities can be true platforms—not just technological ones—for inclusive and sustainable development. The well-being of the billions who call the world's cities home depends on it.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday June 29 2022, @02:18PM (2 children)
"Cities as Machines" has been done before. Mies van der Rohe [wikipedia.org]'s boxes of steel and glass typify its aesthetic. Actual humans hate it, though, because it doesn't feel human. Ask yourself if you'd rather travel to walk the alleys of Mykonos or the antiseptic streets of Chicago's Gold Coast.
And that's just the aesthetics of it. On a more practical level, cities already spend all their time repairing the infrastructure they have. Often, they can't keep up with that. So proposing we implement the measures TFA is talking about jumps several levels of competence past where we are.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 29 2022, @05:42PM (1 child)
People just can't let go of ideas that promise to solve problems with some new gimmick.
You think Modernism is bad? A lot of people can't even let go of Communism with its 100% failure record, and it's a century older than Modernism. The person who says that problems will be solved as the need arises after a careful situational analysis, and even then, expect modest results, is not the person who is listened to. You need a grand new theory that will fix everything.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 30 2022, @03:08AM
You just haven't been doing it right.