Title: The Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban Future
Author: Ben Green
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication Year: 2019
# of Pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9780262538961
Recommended by: Dr. Majd Musa
We've come to an age where, whenever we face a problem, we automatically look for an app or piece of technology to fix it. Whether it is through self-driving cars, or apps that connect us to various maintenance facilities, we are always looking for solutions to absolve us of our "menial" daily tasks. It has come to a level that we do not even notice the technology reliving us of these tasks! We carry phones that connect to every network, collecting data on our every move, only to be analyzed by AI machines to predict our next, and saving us the trouble of fixing our next hurdle before we even notice it. Data that our cities collect and use to adapt our environments.
Though this might seem great and harmless to some, Ben Green begs to differ. In his book, The Smart Enough City, Green illustrates the downside of developing a "too smart" city, a city that leads to human isolation and an overdependency on technology to solve daily obstacles. A city moving so smoothly but devoid of its main component: the people.
However, Green doesn't call for the complete abolishment of technology from our daily lives, rather he invites us to not center human development around the advancements of technology, and gives examples on how "smart enough cities" could be achieved. He hopes his book gives the tech-obsessed population the wake up call they need to take off their "Tech Goggles", and look at the world they built.
Check out the book's page on Ben Green's Website, which features several excerpts, reviews, Q&As and more!
While you can buy this book online, you can also find the Open Access Edition, kindly provided by the MIT Libraries, here!
This article is based on Harvard Magazine's Book Review: Cities Too Smart for Their Own Good