Adam Greenfield on the Dangers of Smart Cities

What are smart cities anyways? Where are they? For whom are they intended? By whom were they developed?

Adam Greenfield challenges the popular concept of “smart cities”, warning against the danger it posses of strictly central planning. While smart cities are often designed to be about consumption, convenience, and security but Adams think that such a state will exist only for few, for the rest it will be a permanent state of exception. He argues that as a discourse, smart cities have nothing to do with cities, treating our urban environments as a market commodity. He believes that in setting out to design the technologized cities of the 21st century, wherever the public generates data, it also has meaningful access to and ownership of that data. Adams' lecture offers food for thought for all of us who never got to consider the possible negative sides of smart cities and how they could come to consider democracy as a disruption of the functional city.

Adam Greenfield is an American writer and urbanist that has written and consulted widely on issues at the intersection of design, technology, and culture, with an increasing focus on how these things interact in (and condition our experience of) cities over the last two decades. He is also the author of several titles including “Against the Smart City” and “Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life”. He has co-taught graduate-level courses at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program and the Urban Design program at the Bartlett School of Architecture (with Usman Haque). He is currently working toward a Ph.D. in the Cities Programme of the Sociology Department at the London School of Economics.

Adam spoke at reSITE 2014:  Cities and Landscapes of the New Economy.

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[txpatriot]

Great presentation. It's a scary concept. I see it as a human ant farm where we will be fed crickets by our masters.

[KJensenStudio]

I am very glad to see this well thought-out presentation opposing these 'smart cities'. I would like to see more opposition views about this, as there is such a huge media push to accept these situations that seem to be forced upon us. Dubai is a very good example.

[adishakti]

Thank you 💓 for your overview on smart cities, of all the dramatic changes needed to improve city life the proposed smart city marks a significant decline in intelligence, absence of creative inspiration and an utter loss of community, heart, and generosity it is hard to believe anyone would fund it or think the immense exertion needed to create it worthwhile.

[anantpathak]

Perfect video for those who think the world needs more smart cities. Fix what you have, cherish what you have, the culture and architecture. Greenfield developments built these days in places like India and the United States are all car centric and soulless. Europe is miles ahead in curtailing poor urban planning policies but people from my country of India want to instead follow United States with segregated sprawling expansions into greenfields. It is bad enough that people in India do not even see Chandigarh as a failed dystopia but instead praise it for its "wide streets" and convinient car layout. Heck people are ever more excited for "smart cities" being constructed accross the country. People should really stop and question themselves what kind of future do we want? soulless & corporate?

[b.bailey]

This is the BEST talk on smart cities I have ever heard! I hope to listen to more of his talks. He gives me hope in such dystopian times. Subscribing based on this ONE talk.

[markschultz]

They want me to live in an energy consuming information producing box in an environmental destroying tower. All I want is a tent on 2 acres to grow my own food.

[cynthiashelton]

Social media has perfect knowledge of people's habits right now as it was designed to.

[nickbagnall]

From what I observe in England, and from what I have read about the WEF managing them, I think we should tread carefully.

[greybush]

Excellent, lot of people are unaware of smart/resilient cities, well presented

[Lsr]

God's revelation being fulfilled. People, only God in His Son Jesus Christ is our only refuge. We are in spiritual warfare. It is not an accident that millions of people, even in places like Iran, are coming to Christ. Please, think about it

[chrisgeorgallis]

Like living in a Jail, you think your free, but your NOT.

[jinniyamciver-mqnp]

God created us to be free and using our abilities to better our lives with materials and resources that, HE made available to us and much more. But the world dictates are doing to us the opposite.

[aganju]

FYI, PlanIT Valley in Portugal has never been constructed, thank God!
However, they did learn from them and they have improved the mo to implement this.

[sunnymagnuson]

If you prefer the full blown control of your life and willing to be told what you can or cannot do then you will like a smart city

[herpderpityderp]

I'd rather go live with the Amish

[saadiaakram]

Very good watch..we all need to think is this what we want. Who would want to "upgrade" to these cities. People need to hear this! Had not been explained so carefully to me before..get past the glossy ads.
These cities sound horrifying and I am convinced will live upto the goal of afew.

[ChrisSchroder-luyn]

first a comfortable prison.... later a real prison.

[furryworm]

I wonder if, several hundred years from now, people would visit smart city as we do in those old cities around the world. And will they still enjoy them even as visitors. A city design by one party has only one soul, such as Dubai. And I personally did not like that's kind of showing-off. I am in Toronto. Thanks for the great talk.♥️

[mledwaba]

Thought-provoking, it's very insightful

[HouseFairyDIY]

What we need is to go back into the wilderness and live off it and it alone.