A Planet of Civic Laboratories

SMART CITIES WILL BE…

GREENSAFE

CONVENIENT(AND POSSIBLY) FUN

…IF YOU ARE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO LIVE IN ONE

a planet of civic laboratories the future of

cities, information and inclusion

Anthony Townsend Research Director

INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE

Presented at Forum on Future Cities

Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyApril 12, 2011

CURRENT VISIONS OF SMART CITIES DON’T ADDRESS

THE NEEDS OF THE POOR AND EXCLUDED

bugs in the smart cityis debugging a century-long project?

brittle intelligencecan we secure the underlying foundation?

surveillance societyare smart cities merely instruments of control?

SO HOW CAN WE MAKE SMART CITIES MORE INCLUSIVE?

mobile broadband

=infrastructure for the marginalized

a supercomputer in every pocket?

opengovernment data

infrastructure

envisioning pro-poor smart cities13 solution templates for inclusion

www.iftf.org/inclusion

crowdsourced public servicesfrom reporting to action

“Gather the volunteers at your current location and come to E 17th. OK?”

participatory public services

continuous countingfrom the periodic census to on-demand surveys

data control

pro-poor interfacesre-inventing access at public computing centers

proliferating digital divides

=Cisco, Shanghai, 2010

General Motors, New York, 1939

???

a battle for the smart cityis something we can’t

afford

pro-poordoing things for the poor

para-poorworking with the poor

per-poorempowering innovation by the poor