Community Planning + Visualization Lab

The "smart city" revolution seems at times to be just around the corner. How integrated will technology become into the urban fabric? What are the tradeoffs of different levels and methods of integration? In order to fully reap the benefits of smart cities, these questions and more will need to be investigated.

Proponents have hailed self-driving cars as a convenient cure for automotive addiction and its flaws, but they can only go so far in solving our transportation sector's issues. How much of an impact will they really end up having in advancing the agenda of making America more sustainable and livable?

A smart city with dumb policies will do about as much good as a pen with no ink. No amount of tech can supplant knowledgeable human operators and a participating pool of residents. Mainly because, as much as it pains Sam Altman when I say this, technology doesn't understand us. Only we understand us. And we are undeniably biased: a bias that leaks into every tool we've ever made that attempts to use logic or reasoning like we do.

Ethical Smart Cities are those where new technologies are used to reduce inequality rather than deepen it, where personal data is protected rather than exploited, and where decisions reflect the voices of all residents instead of tech companies and the political elites. As planners, we must advocate for policies that embed equity, privacy, and participation into every smart initiative.