Upcoming talk: The smart city is a techno-utopian fantasy

Philadelphia City Hall, 2013. Photo by Alan Wiig.

This coming Thursday 26 February I've been invited by Cities@Manchester to speak. My talk will critique the smart city through a case study of Philadelphia's recent work with IBM.

The smart city is a techno-utopian fantasy: A case study of IBM in Philadelphia

Smart city initiatives have been adopted worldwide, proposing techno-utopian solutions to urban problems big and small. These policies are indicative of the digitization of urban life, where social and economic exchange rely on globalized telecommunications networks and digitally-focused governance strategies. Propelled through events such as IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge, the smart city offers a data-driven logic of widespread benefit to a city and its residents that masks the underlying advancement of entrepreneurial development objectives. The rhetoric of intelligent, transformative digital change works much more to “sell” a city in the global economy than to actually improve urban conditions. Through a case study of IBM’s policy consultation in Philadelphia, I argue that the promotional capacity of the smart city worked to drive economic growth in specific, already-well-off areas of globally-oriented enterprise. Philadelphia proposed an online application (app) for training up to 600,000 low-literacy residents for jobs in the information and knowledge economy, while at the same time highlighting as “smart” everything from the city’s relative location in the megalopolitan Northeast United States to the ready potential for creating new industries in the region. By tracing the smart city initiative into the fabric of the city itself, this presentation highlights the inconsistencies of a policy aimed at reducing inequalities through enterprise that cannot support the individuals in need. The spatial consequences of the smart city in Philadelphia reinforced a zone-based urbanism more-typically found in Asia or the Middle East. In its supposed efforts at civic engagement, the smart city instead furthered the splintering of the urban landscape.

Further details can be found here.

Upcoming talk: Batteries, chargers and plugs: Charting the energy demands of mobile communication

This picture I took on SEPTA's Regional Rail in Philadelphia last year exemplifies this emerging social practice: this student (I assume as much since he got off the train at Temple University's stop) chose the seat by the door to access this electrical outlet, to top off his smartphone before heading to class. The outlet apparently works, but it decidedly was not intended for this use. Photo by Alan Wiig, 2014. 

For the last week I've been in residence at Lancaster University's DEMAND Centre, working on a research project examining the energy demands of mobile communication and digital connectivity, specifically focusing on changing social practices around charging mobile devices in public, while in transit. This coming Wednesday February 25 I'll be giving a talk on the research.

Details:

Batteries, chargers and plugs: charting the energy demands of mobile communication 

The use of smartphones to access the Internet while on the move is a common aspect of everyday, personal mobility in the twenty-first century. Transit, weather, and social media applications (apps) engageindividuals' attention during commutes, but the energy demands needed to power computing devicesleads many users to employ creative, informal actions around charging batteries in inappropriate places. There is a growing pressure fortransportation planners to provide electrical outlets and charging stations systemwide. Using fieldwork conducted on trains and in train stations in Northern England and the Northeast United States prompts the following line of inquiry: What is the role of electrical energy and batteries in enabling both mobile communication and ubiquitous connectivity while in motion? How is the social practices around constant, wireless connectivity shaping the spaces of transportation? What are the infrastructural provisions that transit providers must now consider around plug loads for battery charging? And finally, what are the larger implications of battery charging and general electricity use for patterns of local, regional, and global mobility?

If any readers are in the area the talk is open to the public. Further information here.