Category: questions

Smart cities- Townsend

What does he mean by the Internet of people gave way to the Internet of things? Is ‘Big Data’ referred to as an Internet of Things? On the other hand, are the ‘Internet of Things’ translated as data to be able to measure it? (symbolic / numeric data when comparing A.I machines to humans).

‘Digital revolution didn’t kill cities. In fact, cities everywhere are flourishing because new technologies make them even more valuable and effective as face-to-face gathering place.’ Does this reinforce Jane Jacob’s view on cities and people, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” In addition, Haque’s point of view, ‘Smartness arises in expanded human interactions and creativity, not in physical infrastructures and this is most important in the urban context.’ Does the type of interaction play a role in the development of cities? Augmented interaction vs physical interaction.

By unlocking public databases and utilizing social media to create a responsive channel with citizens, where does privacy and security stand? How important is this data when it comes to technological inventions being effective and responsive to humans’ wants or needs?

Is the term smart city mutable, a term that changes overtime, how we combine information technology with infrastructure, architecture etc, determine what a smart city may become and hence redefine what a smart city is?

What is it to be a smart city? Usman Haque

Smart cities and its technologies target a certain type of demographic, so by limiting smart technologies (economically, politically and culturally) how successful or effective are these technologies currently? As Haque mentions, ‘in an age of extreme connectivity, when geographical specificity and proximity are no longer necessary for either trade or the exchange of ideas and the sense of ‘belonging’ transcends the boundaries of nation-states, what can justify the purposeful creation of new cities, not to mention so-called smart cities.’ Is the “Sense of belonging” threatened or is it protected and or encouraged in smart cities today?

‘The often-explicit assumption that the universe is formed with knowable and definable parameters assures us that if we were only able to measure them all, we would be able to predict and respond with perfection accordingly. This is best exemplified in the ‘Data>Information>Knowledge>Wisdom’ paradigm, which is founded on the mistaken notion of data purity.’ What is the idea behind data purity?

The promotion of the inevitability of smartness in cities rather cynically preys on both individuals’ fears for the future and organizational desires to rationalize their self-importance. Are the use of smart technology either in smart cities or in cities that lack such technologies, viewed with similar criticism and or should they be viewed from such a perspective?

To solve problems cities and humans face, can smart cities be applicable in places or areas or for people that need or want it: to have a choice, as opposed to smart cities and technology being imposed on one’s society? Would smart citizens help transition into more effective and productive Smart cities?

What parameters differentiate smart cities and smart citizens? Can one not exist in the other? Can a smart city not coexist with smart citizens? McLuhan mentions technologies being an extension or amputation, how are smart technologies and smart citizens perceived by keeping McLuhans point of view in mind.

What role does crowd-sourcing play in respect to smart citizens? How does it affect smart cities? Would it beneficial or harmful for smart cities to incorporate crowd-sourcing, when designing such technologies?

 

1 what is a City that would it be smart —Haque

Why people coerced into the smart cities? Is the citizens and the network connection resulted in high efficiency of the smart city?

 This is best exemplify in the Data>Information>Knowledge>Wisdom’ paradigm why its founded on the mistaken notion of data purity?

What is the meaning of real appeal of smart cities is how dumb these cities will actually could be?  

2   City of Sound — Dan Hill

Like Volume said smart city is a city in a box, does it means the smart city be a cybernetic control and self-organized?

What is the Smart City’s ultimate goal? Till now our city have self traffic control systems, urban duct systems or even the whole city covered by the CCTV, how far is it from now to ultimate goal?

3 Smart City —–Anthony Townsend

The digital revolution didn’t kill cities. In fact, cities everywhere are flourishing because new technologies move them face to face. If it means network and technologies make us anywhere online, then there is no reason for people gathering together in a city. Counter urbanization do happens during digital revolution.

In the 1939 world’s Fair General Motors has spent a small fortune to convince the public give up their old dwells space and rebuild cities, in the future could some internet enterprise promise a better online environment, so that public will give up their online privacy?

“What is a City that is would be Smart?” – Usman Haque

What can a smart city offer beyond increased efficiency and convenience? Does it promise any sociological, psychological, cultural or economical benefits? Can it unlock something, or perhaps re-discover something we lost during our pursuit of efficiency and convenience such as our connections to ourselves and/or our immediate context?

Is a “plug in” smart city a logical solution? Would it not as Usman stated be a technologically advanced promise of increased efficiency such as those of the ‘60s urban planners? Would a “smart city in a box” be any different from a city that developed as a mesh of smart nodes that gradually grew to connect the entire urban fabric? How?

Do we really tend to surround ourselves with like-minded people online? It can be argued that the webspace much like city space is a system of transportation much like our streets where we pass by one another and are offered the choice of interacting with a passing individual, an acquaintance, or a store (web page) and it’s subjects.

“Second, in a world of increasing complexity where we are far more aware that our actions can have unforeseen consequences, people – especially city managers – desire control and understanding” – Is the general public aware that a smart city is a “transparent city” where all that is them in the internet of things can be accessed and or controlled by certain parties / individuals? Are we willing to barter our sense of security for an efficient and convenient e-topia? Have we not already begun to? How much of our information is actually at increased risk of unsolicited access in the smart city?

Usman discuses a smart city that is built based on efficiency and convenience however does not mention a city with an intentional, designed “performance” that is also inherent in smart city designs where a 1 to 1 relationship is not “mapped” but studied and manipulated in order to design experiences and interactions on the street and urban scale – could they exist simultaneously as one? Or is the latter rendered an inherently inefficient utilization of space, energy and technology?

City of Sound: Smart city: or smart citizens instead? – Dan Hill

“The city is its people. We don’t make cities in order to make buildings and infrastructure. We make cities in order to come together, to create wealth, culture, more people. As social animals, we create the city to be with other people, to work, live, play. Buildings, vehicles and infrastructure are mere enablers, not drivers” – is there not a way that a smart city could be designed to allow for the aforementioned “performance”? Why is the “smart city” stripped of all sentient and atmosphere?

“Can a city be “smart” and inefficient at the same time? Perhaps this is a fundamental question, un-voiced by smart city advocates” – Can a city be efficient and approachable? Designed for the people but not necessarily by them?

Does a smart city assume a dumb citizen? Why?

“In fact, does removing the conscious decision ­making element make us less likely to be aware, to care, about our impact on the environment?” Are we getting dumber (more passive) as our systems get smarter?

Smart city – Townsend

Studying the history our sociological and cultural evolution can help us predict our future patterns or events. Considering our evolution from craftsmen over the industrial evolution and our increased incentive to achieve efficiency and accuracy through mechanization and soon after that atomization could our pursuit for a smart city not be considered inevitable?

“Something about Songdo just doesnt feel authentic, fully reflective of our every day digital experience” – In my humble opinion, Songdo exists as a platform of experimentation and development. It is not a product but a process of evolution/development and thus cannot be judged but in the context of the will of adoption, implementation and the entrepreneurial incentive to create ground breaking technologies that can then effectively be plugged in or tested in digital grounds like Songdo.

If a fully automated city responded to weather autonomously and automatically what happens to our sense of control or personal preferences. Much like a shift in government, does a smart city dictate that we as a species begin to abandon our self centered, almost narcissistic ideologies of privacy and personal comfort and adopt a more global perspective before it’s conception? Do smart citizens come first, and does the smart city then become merely a platform that provides for the culmination of our psychological & sociological enlightenment?

“Tokyo survived it’s digital lobotomy – there’s still enough of the conventional infrastructure in place to live manually” –  Technology, as of right now maintains an almost symbiotic relationship with us, i.e, without us there is no technology and we would be severely effected if technology vanished over night. As technology becomes “smarter” is there a risk in that relationship shifting and us becoming fully reliant on technology? What happens then?