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