Following the celebration of the “creative city” (as described by Richard Florida), the “smart city” has become the new flavor of the month—and a brand. It makes clever use of resources, and it attracts money, corporate power, and private industries. Offering us cheap, effective solutions to social and political problems, the smart city is functional, […]
Reclaiming the Smart City: Personal Data, Trust and the New Commons
Why and how city governments are taking a more responsible approach to the collection and use of personal data.
A City Is Not a Computer: Other Urban Intelligences
<strong>A bold reassessment of "smart cities" that reveals what is lost when we conceive of our urban spaces as computers</strong> Computational models of urbanism—smart cities that use data-driven planning and algorithmic administration—promise to deliver new urban efficiencies and conveniences. Yet these models limit our understanding of what we can know about a city. <i>A City Is Not a Computer</i> reveals how cities encompass myriad forms of local and indigenous intelligences and knowledge institutions, arguing that these resources are a vital supplement and corrective to increasingly prevalent algorithmic models. Shannon Mattern begins by examining the ethical and ontological implications of urban technologies and computational models, discussing how they shape and in many cases profoundly limit our engagement with cities. She looks at the methods and underlying assumptions of data-driven urbanism, and demonstrates how the "city-as-computer" metaphor, which undergirds much of today's urban policy and design, reduces place-based knowledge to information processing. Mattern then imagines how we might sustain institutions and infrastructures that constitute more diverse, open, inclusive urban forms. She shows how the public library functions as a steward of urban intelligence, and describes the scales of upkeep needed to sustain a city's many moving parts, from spinning hard drives to bridge repairs. Incorporating insights from urban studies, data science, and media and information studies, <i>A City Is Not a Computer</i> offers a visionary new approach to urban planning and design.
A City in Common: A Framework to Orchestrate Large-scale Citizen Engagement around Urban Issues
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As tech companies race to build data centers, more communities are pushing back
Concerns about electricity bills and local impacts are fueling bipartisan opposition to the massive data centers that power the digital economy, from cloud services to AI chatbots. In Wisconsin, as in other states, the tussles are personal – and fraught.
A City Is Not a Computer
This seems an obvious truth, but we need to say it loud and clear. Urban intelligence is more than information processing.
Computational Public Space
NYC: can this city-state be completely self-reliant? | Aeon Essays
Green living in NYC need not be simple living – think skyscraper farms, meat-production towers and revamped aqueducts
What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit
The long read: Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collective effort
Common Knowledge: Citizen-led data governance for better cities
Key lessons from the DECODE pilots and tips on how other cities and governments can apply the technologies and methods.
Emergence: the connected lives of ants, brains, cities and software
In the tradition of Being Digital and The Tipping Point…
"Like Magic Intelligence in the Cloud", 2025.05.26 - Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000
Because Sam Altman hates opening his laptop, OpenAI is merging with iPhone guy Jony Ive's design firm in the name of some mysterious new ChatGPT-enabled consumer products: Alex and Emily go full Mystery Science Theater and dissect the announcement video. Plus how tech billionaires like Sam Altman mythologize San Francisco while their money makes it less livable for everyone else.References:Sam Altman and Jony Ive are merging (Video)Emplacedness, real estate, and gentrification in San FranciscoAnthropic? More like anthropomorphicKaren Hao on her new book
Thrilled to share that our project @roundabout.town (give them a follow!) will be powering new, healthy digital public spaces in Chicago! This is part of chicago.com, a partnership with Chicago Public Media, which is the @chicago.suntimes.com and @wbez.org. niemanlab.org/2026/08/can-public-media-buil…
Can public media build its own social network? Chicago Public Media teams up with New_ Public to try
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