Call to Urbanize Technology

CALL TO URBANIZE TECHNOLOGY

For years, the Smart City has been the ultimate form of urban progress. This concept can be defined as the use of information technologies to improve the quality of life of citizens while reducing the operating costs for cities and urban stakeholders. The ongoing digital transformation, the abundance of urban data and the emergence of Artificial Intelligence technologies supported this vision as cities around the world became “smarter”.

Despite this hype, a growing opposition began to surface. In both Europe and North America, citizens increasingly distrust urban monitoring and claim more digital rights [1]. In Asia, from the Middle East to South East, several Smart Cities such as Masdar and Songdo struggle to attract residents.

We believe that this global failure highlights a conceptual deficiency.

In the Smart City paradigm, quality of life is mainly quantified via the consumption of urban services and goods. Therefore, technology is used to optimize the city.

This approach has its benefits. Optimization of urban services such as water management, urban logistics and infrastructure maintenance can contribute to safer and more efficient cities. To some extent, smart grids make cheaper and greener energy possible while digital tools can foster civic engagement.

However, on its own, this paradigm is incomplete [2]. Cities are more than an optimized platform offering a frictionless user experience. Civic participation cannot be reduced to data transmission and human beings are not machines. In contrast, we believe that:

1. Cities are owned by people. Streets and parks are shaped by the desire to share a destiny. Places embody our social instincts and our need to gather. In that way, cities materialize our social contract. They are the common ground for generations.

2. Cities are incomplete. They evolve and transform over time. Exactly as if urban materiality was malleable. This plasticity allows us to dwell a city, to extend it and to reconfigure spaces. People do not only own the city, they constantly make it.

3. Cities are complex systems [3]. Complexity is order in heterogeneity. Likewise, cities are balanced by a bottom-up dynamic: urban density and social interactions contribute to distribute rationality and spread information. These welcoming collisions of singularities and cultures make cosmopolitanism possible. That is why cities are where diversity can flourish and thrive.

4. Cities are lands of liberty and opportunities. They are places of encounters and exploration. Encounter with other singularities and exploration of new cultures. These frictions give rise to freedom. It allows self-accomplishment through the interaction with otherness. It gives us the possibility to become who we are.

5. Cities are full of meaning. They host the daily story of people, communities and civilisations. This urban narrative reminds us that, “poetically, humans dwell upon the earth” [4].

6. Cities are not artificial bubbles. They are part of the biosphere and must echo this fundamental truth. Urbanity depends on our ability to live in a sustainable way and to fulfil our biophilia.

Each time a technology atrophies one of these qualities, it de-urbanizes the city.

We believe that in addition to optimize cities, we must urbanize technology [5]. That is, designing and developing technologies that promote urbanity and cityness.

Considering our six urban principles, urbanized technologies are:

1. Situated. They emanate from a social contract, a culture and a geography.

2. Open. They are accessible for all and evolutive.

3. Decentralized. They empower communities and are equally distributed.

4. Frictional. They encourage exploration through interactions.

5. Meaningful. They amplify human speech.

6. Ecological. They are frugal and low carbon.

None of these features are incompatible with contemporary technologies. Sensors can turn into interfaces. Data and codes can become transparent and understandable to all.
Algorithms can ease exploration and wandering. Social Media can be decentralized and frictional. Digital can serve the urban narrative.

The only limitation to reinvent urban technologies is our imagination.

We are convinced it is time to complete the Smart City paradigm and to urbanize technology. It is high time to dwell again upon the earth.

[1] This citizen resistance has even led to the abandonment of smart city projects, for example in Toronto and Los Angeles.
[2] There is now an extensive literature on this conceptual deficiency. Among others: The Smart Enough City by Ben Green, Building and Dwelling : Ethics for the City by Richard Senett and Undoing Optimization by Alison B. Powell.
[3] To be accurate, they are open complex systems interacting with the outside. It also means that their modelization is always incomplete.
[4] Hölderlin, The Ister.
[5] Saskia Sassen, Open Source Urbanism in Domus (2011) and Urbanized Technology in URBAN AI (H. Beroche et al., 2020).

Licence Creative Commons
Call to Urbanize Technology by Urban AI is made available under the terms of the licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
Based on a work at https://urbanai.fr/call/

If you agree with the Call and want to sign it, you can fill in this Google Form:

Signatories

Full name
Job title
Saskia SassenProfessor at Columbia University
Carlos MorenoCo-Founder & Scientific Director ETI Chair – Pantheon Sorbonne University
Cédric VillaniFields Medal Laureate and French Deputy
Luc JuliaChief Scientific Officer at Renault
Alex PentlandProfessor MIT Connection Science, Sloan IDE and Media Laboratory
Gaspard KoenigPhilosopher
Jean RottnerPresident of the Regional Council of Grand Est
Nigel JacobCo-Founder - Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (City of Boston)
Hélène ChartierHead of Zero Carbon Development at C40
Frédéric MazzellaFounder and President of BlaBlaCar and Co-President of France Digitale
Thomas CottinetHead of ECOLAB – French Ministry of the Ecological Transition
Hubert BerocheFounder of Urban AI
Akim OuralDeputy Mayor - City of Lille
Marius HartmannChief Advisor at the Danish Business Authority
Nuria OliverChief Scientific Advisor at the Vodafone Institute and Chief Scientific Advisor of ELLIS Alicante Foundation
Olivier SichelPresident of Digital New Deal Foundation
Dr. Nadina GalleEcological Engineer & Technologist
Eric CostaPrésident Citynove - Directeur Immobilier Groupe Galeries Lafayette
Pascal BornetChief Data Officer at Area Technology
Elise BucklePresident of Climate & Sustainability
Olivier CorradiCEO of Tomorrow
Sasha LuccioniPostdoctoral Researcher at Université de Montréal and Computational Social Scientist at UN Global Pulse
Francky TrichetVice-President of Nantes Métropoles
Julien VillalongueManaging Director Leonard (VINCI group)
Carolina PanDirector of Research, Power for All
Philippe BeaudoinCEO of Waverly
Stefaan G. VerhulstCo-Founder and Chief of R&D, The GovLab
Tom BensonResearch Fellow + Project Lead @ MIT Senseable City Lab
Albane GodardConsultant in Innovation and Urban Development
Suzanne FritelliCo-Founder of BuildrZ
Jose Carpio-PinedoResearcher - Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Robert HeineckeFounder & CEO, Breeze Technologies
Ariela ValverdeArchitect and Urban Planner
Aurelien COTTETInternational Sales Director
Marc OppenheimCEO CREDIT AGRICOLE IMMOBILIER
Florent OrsoniDirecteur du city design lab - L'Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique
Charles-Edouard DelpierreGeneral Manager Urban at Tractebel
JEAN-GABRIEL GANASCIAProfesseur des universités (Sorbonne Université)
Adrienne SchmoekerFormer Director of Civic Engagement and Strategy, Deputy Chief Analytics Officer for the City of New York
Steve GrimesAssistant Director of Data Analytics
Caroline LébrardCréatrice du podcast Felicity
Arthur LapeyrèreArchitect, VDC Expert & Data Analyst
Emmanuel LEGERCEO of Cyclope.ai
Laurence LiewDirector AI Singapore
Laura Narvaez ZertucheAssociate Partner, Urban Designer
Antoine MartinDeputy Mayor, responsible for Open Data, and Digital Public Service - City of Tours
Diana FilippovaAuthor of Technopouvoir, dépolitiser pour mieux régner
Emmanuelle RipertBordeaux Metropolis
Iacopo TestiData scientist & Urban Technologist
Damien fulchironPartner
Stephan van DijkDirector of Innovation at AMS Institute
Yann FergusonExpert - Global Partnership on AI
Rafael LunaCo-Founder of PRAUD
Fabienne BillatDigital and Communications Consultant
Scott ShepardVP
Jean-Charles GuilletInnovation
DELPIERRE Charles-EdouardGeneral Manager Urban at Tractebel
Khalid BoudrariFounder & CEO @KlickyX
Didier ChabaudDirector of ETI Chair - IAE Sorbonne Business School
Guillaume LoizeaudConstruction division Director / Batimat & Mondial du Batiment Director and Président and Founder of Habitatscopie.fr
TG SitharamDIRECTOR, IIT Guwahati
Anne SpeicherManaging Partner Baumschlager Eberle Architekten
Aurel von RichthofenUrban Researcher
Shany BarathAssistant Professor at Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Co-Founder of ShaGa Architects
Beatriz Botero ArcilaCo-founder Edgelands Institute
SAYON PRAMANIKAssistant Professor- National Institute of Technology Raipur, India
Denis LabellePresident
DUGROSPREZ TeddyÉtudiant dans le génie climatique, l'efficacité énergétique et le développement durable
Ariel NoymanMIT City Science
Stéphane RocheUniversity professor
Margaux de MontaigneSales
Alain RenkCo-Founder of Open Urbanism Foundation Geneva and 7 Billion Urbanists Network
Aurelie Paulet Asset Manager
Clarisse BarréAsset manager
Étienne Tabareau Directeur Général
Jacques PRIOLCEO CIVITEO
Nikola Milojevic-DupontPhD candidate at MCC Berlin
Flawizky NicolasArchitecte DPLG cyberneticien
Terpant charlotte Asset manager
Clara MosconiAsset manager
Dan Saattrup NielsenResearch Associate in Machine Learning
Kris LibunaoExecutive Director, SmartCT
Boisnel ludivine Directeur d’opérations
Kevin WebbDirector, SharedStreets
Eric CassarARKHENSPACES principal architect
Andres Gomez-LievanoScientist and Consultant
Antonio CaloroCeo-Environ Governance The Ultimate Multishape Urban Batteries
Nadia BerocheCoach/consultante
Dilip GunaManager - Smart Sustainable Cities
Juan Murillo AriasUrban Planner and Engineer
Carine BachmannDirector, Département of culture and digital transition, City of Geneva
Cedric RenziScientific Software Development Engineer - Modelling & Simulation for design and systems Engineering
StragapedeStudent
Stephane FraniatteDirector of analytical software r&d
Philippe RapinCeo
Ajay Kumar Sinha Professor in Civil Engineering, NIT Patna
Kee Moon JangPhD candidate
Laurent Bouillot Ceo of Siradel
Laura BrownResearch professor in architecture and sociology
Naira Hovakimyan Professor UIUC
Megan SobczykArchitect | BIM Manager
Tania papasotiriou Industry educator
Claire FlurinHead of R&D
Benoît KiefferBike activist & digital sobriety thinker
Dominique.dioufHead of Exploration
Jehanne DuclosEducation
Hussein OrekoyaSustainability Consultant
Vasseur CédricAI, Robotic Expert
Lucas FradinResponsable financier
Anna CraciunPartnership Manager
Nelly CornejoPresident & Founder - Taal Project
Sid RahmanHead of Global Sales
Vincent TourreAssociate Professor at Centrale Nantes
Wendy W FokCreative Technologist, Architectural Designer, Futurist
Tom JouvetStudent
Sergio Dos SantosCSO ARtools
Gustavo MaldonadoSpatial Data Scientist
DesgurseChief innovation
yves daccordexecutive chairman Edgelands Institute
Alejandro CanteraUrban Data Scientist and Architect
Benoit BergeretExecutive director, METALAB for data, technology and society, ESSEC Business School
Remy BourganelChief Startegist
Antoine VerhulstData Analyst
Adriel Alvarez-PerezBusiness Developer - Bluspark
Charles KantorFounder & CEO at KLASS Labs│Stanford University
HELENE CAYLAEntrepreneur
Michel MathieuDirecteur Général de LCL et Directeur Général Adjoint de Crédit Agricole S.A.
Alexander JachnowUrban Strategist and Researcher at IHS, Erasmus University Rotterdam
David HickArchitect / Researcher / Consultant Intelligent City Systems
Nayla SaniourUrban consultant
Philippe BOYERDirecteur innovation
Seddik nadia Coach
ANJALI GUPTAAssistant Professor
Herquin Thomas CEO
Mennatullah HendawyResearch associate
Ernest KwanHead of Data and Analytics, Water and Waste, City of Winnipeg
Surjyatapa RayArchitect/ Urbanist
Raymond ChettiCo-founder & CEO at XAI Land
Mennatullah HendawyResearcher and lecturer assistant
Shuva ChowdhuryLecturer in Architectural Technology
Jens Ulrik Jørgensen PhD fellow
George TchanturiaAssociate Professor at AlterBridge University
Ranah HammashiD+iR \/enture/\ RCHiTECT
Duraid DaasCity & Regional Planner
Izlem BoyluDirector - Urban Planning, AECOM ME
Vasiliki PahagiotopoulouArchitect
Nei GrandoBusiness and IT Consultant
Pierre BernardFondateur - Alterurbain
Simone Grassourban data designer
Yuntsui ChangDoctoral Researcher
Mariela AlfonzoFounder/CEO, State of Place
Chin KuPostgraduate student at CASA, UCL
Héctor Saldaña-MárquezFull Professor of Department of Architecture and Habitat Sciences at UDEM.
Martina MazzarelloPostDoc researcher
Daniel Orellana V.Principal Professor at Universidad de Cuenca
Karla Saldana OchoaAssistant Professor
Tjark GallPhD Candidate, Anthropolis Chair (IRT SystemX, CentraleSupélec)
Sebastien Goethals CEO
Gehry guo CUIExecutive editor-in-chief, URBAN CHINA magazine
Viktoria MolnarCOO of cividi
Tabea SonnenscheinPhD Candidate in Urban Simulation
Bibiana GuerraAdvisor
Rustem ZhibitayevCivil Structural and Transportation Engineer
Devin DiranScientist Innovator Energy Transition and Digitalization
ArushiUrban Planner, Jacobs
Alfajrul Student
Ahmad Z. Abu Hussien Urbanist at Greater Amman Municipality
Annabel NyoleUrban Planner
Charlie WilsonUrbanist
MERCIER SYLVIEPUBLIC IT MANAGER
Abdoul kafid TOKO KOUTOGUIFounder of Africitizen
Amila JayasingheSenior Lecturer
N.B Samith MadusankaProject Assistant
SahanGIS Technician
Dana Al MamloukStudent
Gaetano VolpeCEO
Roshan kumaryoutube
Moh. Bugy Ardhytio YusufPostgraduate Student
Sissa BEKOMBO PRISOUrban Resilience Project Manager
samaneh danaeifarmaster student
Marie Josefine HintzDoctoral Researcher Technical University Berlin
Sara Sbaragli Research Fellow in Sociology
Ryan L. ThomasEducator & Co-Director - Spatial Opportunity Lab, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Soledad GuileraSmart Cities, AI & Government Professor
JONGBIN BAIEKAssistant Associate, Urban Planning & Design Department, Heerim Architect & Planners
Dr.Areaj Khairy Othman AlrawiTEacher
Hangjoon GioChief of Smart City Business DivisionGH(Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Development Corporation)
FredGraphic Designer
RISS SylvainHead of BIM and Digital
Rihards DzelmeCEO
Spencer AmesStudent
Jake-evan Chanteur
Chancy ShahGeospatial Engineer
ericson scorsimfounder associação monitor ambiental antirruídos
Gururaja TalepalliSDE
André Meyer-VitaliSenior Researcher at DFKI
Dilip ChateSenior Researcher
Matthias Woiwode von GilardiDirector German Smart Cities Office | Board Member Urban.KI (German AI Innovation Centre)
Leticia IzquierdoPhD student
Yogendra KumarPlaksha Research Fellow
Peter StarrCo-Founder & CEO at Freeda
basmaassistant professor
Matteo BarisonePhD student - Cultural Heritage Politecnico di Torino (TO)
Ivan Tamayo RamosUrban strategist