City of the future? Swap smart for humane
Herman van den Bosch |
TEDxGrosseto
• October 2020
Over the past decade, mayors from all over the world have aspired to make their city become smart. They were impressed by technology companies' claims that technology could/would attract foreign investors and help in solving all urban problems. Cities had grown unprecedently and their problems had become worse. At the same time the use of mobile phones has exploded, which enables technology companies to collect a huge amount of data that generated large profits. Resistance against the technocentric smart city concept is growing and the call to focus on the real urban problems is heard louder. My concept of the humane city is replacing that of the smart city, albeit I plea for the use of technology where ever this is helpful or enabling.