This document discusses the rise of smart cities and civic participation in city innovation. It notes that as urbanization increases, cities have become living laboratories for testing new technologies. However, there is also a potential conflict over who controls these technologies and data. The document argues that the best approach is to align different stakeholders like industry, startups, and government to support bottom-up civic innovation, allowing every city to address its own challenges and citizens to help shape their city's development. When done right, smart cities can be "planets of civic laboratories" driven by community participation.
1. a planet of civic laboratories
bottom-up
innovation
for the smart city
Anthony Townsend
Research Director
INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE
SmartCity Expo and World Congress
Barcelona
29 November 2011
4. “calm and tranquil, almost motionless man
of the earlier generations that preceded us”
vs.
“active, daring, entrepreneurial man… who
in a few brief instants travels vast
distances…
the man who in just minutes transmits and
circulates his news, his instructions, his
commands right around the globe.”
15. “in the lifetimes of our children, the
urbanization project will be competed.
We will have built the system of cities that
their descendants will live with forever”
-Paul Romer, economist
32. fast-emerging conflicts over…
what should be measured
how it is measured
how it is used to analyze and control
who owns it
who has access
where it goes later
36. “Cities have the capability of
providing something for everybody
only because and only when they
are created by everybody.”
-Jane Jacobs
37. a planet of civic laboratories??
good technology design is just like good city design
every city must address its own unique problems
every city has to adapt, repurpose,
create its own solutions
every city is a laboratory for smart
38. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Center for Urban Science and Progress
“Using cities as living laboratories
will be essential to this research enterprise.”
40. a planet of civic laboratories
bottom-up
innovation
for the smart city
Anthony Townsend
Research Director
INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE
SmartCity Expo and World Congress
Barcelona
29 November 2011