smart city | dumb city: our sxsw proposal

SMART CITIES:

How smart is too smart? !MARISSA GLUCK "Director, Huge Ideas, HUGE | Co-founder, DeLab CHRISTINE OUTRAM "Senior Inventionist, Deutsch LA | Founder, City Innovation Group

#smartcitydebate JOIN THE CONVERSATION:

SO TELL ME:

What makes a "city smart?

Is it this?

Or this?

IMAGE: GAFFTA.ORG

Or could it even be this?

IMAGE: DREAM HAMAR

Perhaps, it is about all of these things, and how smart phones, sensors, big data and the like, are supporting or hindering our civic ambitions.

“ We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.

BUT WE MUST ALSO REMEMBER:

MARSHALL MCLUHAN, PHILOSOPHER, FUTUROLOGIST AND MEDIA PIONEER

WHICH LEAVES US WITH THE QUESTION:

How will these new tools and devices that aim to automate, optimize, include or educate fundamentally change civic life?

And are there any benefits to the dumb city and all its inconveniences?

Let’s Duel

IMAGE: http://2020chrisong.blogspot.com

IN THE LEFT CORNER:

IN THE RIGHT CORNER:

Cities are broke. Using technologies to automate and optimize our city systems makes good financial sense. We have entered the “measured era” the more technology we use, the more we can measure and the more we can adapt to our findings and make better decisions. New technologies connect us to our interests, our surroundings and other people like never before. We are on the verge of a new architectural language: buildings can build themselves, spaces can speak back, and information can integrated into our surroundings, when and where we need it.

Optimization and efficiency is fine, but what about civil liberties? Do I want to be tracked and recorded? Not everyone has access to the same tools and devices. When we make decisions based on data, we are missing out on a representative voice. Where did serendipity go? Should I only be making connections if it is mediated through technology? A Minority Report world could suck. If technology will be integrated into our surroundings, we must get the user experience design right.

THE DIRECTOR, HUGE IDEAS!!MARISSA GLUCK "Director, Huge Ideas, HUGE + Journalist, Researcher, City Lover Founder of DeLAB (Design East of La Brea) Alumni of USC Annenberg School of Communications

THE INVENTIONIST!!CHRISTINE OUTRAM"Senior Inventionist, Deutsch LA + Creative Technologist, Architect, City Lover Founder of City Innovation Group Alumni of MIT

Who won? Who’s next?

TELL US: #SMARTCITYDEBATE | @CITYINNOVATION | @MARISSAGLUCK