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The Conversation
The Conversation
David Murakami Wood, Canada Research Chair in Critical Surveillance and Security Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Planning smart and sustainable cities should not result in exclusive garden utopias for the rich

big Alphabet
Proposed future cities rely on new technologies to create more efficient — and exclusive — luxury communities. (Shutterstock)

One of the big ideas of the 21st century, “smart cities” promised a new world of connected, data-driven and sustainable urbanism. Pervasive digital infrastructures would monitor flows from sewage to traffic to criminal activities, providing information in real time and anticipating and preventing risks.

However, in practice, smart cities have been disappointing. Schemes like Alphabet’s failed “city built from the Internet, up” was criticized for being opportunistic data grabs. And many other smart city projects have been fragmented and unimpressive

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