Beyond Smart Cities

Frank KresinResearch Director

@kresin / frank@waag.org

Smart Gadgets

Smart Assistants

http://www.pixedge.com/lastmoment

Smart Buildings

Smart Cities

1. Smart Grids

2. Smart Mobility

3. Smart Policing

Flaws in Smart Cities

• Start with technology, instead of urban & human challenges

• Insufficient use and production of evidence

• Lack of awareness of how others improve cities and lives

• Little role for citizens

Smart Citizens

Smart Citizens•Will take responsibility for the place they live, work and love in•Value access over ownership, contribution over power•Will ask forgiveness, not permission•Know where they can get the tools, knowledge and support•Value empathy, dialogue and trust•Appropriate technology, rather than accept it as is•Will help the people that struggle with smart stuff•Ask questions, before they come up with answers•Take part in design efforts to come up with better solutions•Work agile, prototype early, test quickly, start all over•Will not stop in the face of huge barriers•Continuously share their knowledge and their learning

http://waag.org/nl/blog/manifesto-smart-citizens

Agency & Empowerment

• Institute for Art, Science & Technology

• Since 1994, 63 Staff, based in Amsterdam

• Artistic Research, Critical Design & Social Innovation

• Exploring Emergent Technologies & opening them up

Waag Society

http://www.waag.org/

Code = Culture

http://digitalsocial.eu

Technology is not Neutral

http://digitalsocial.eu

1. Access over Ownership

https://www.couchsurfing.com/

https://www.peerby.com/

2. Crowdfunding

https://www.kickstarter.com/

https://www.fairphone.com/

http://www.thehighline.org/

http://bristolpound.org/

3. Collective Awareness Platforms

Open Source Sensors

http://blog.safecast.org/

AirBezen

Smart Citizens Lab

http://waag.org/en/project/smart-citizens-lab

4. New Ways of Making

http://fablab.waag.org

Cheap but Powerful Tools

Open Designs

5. Participatory Democracy

http://localprojects.net/project/change-by-us/

http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/

Hackers?

Platforms have a Central Role

[Hacker]

A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture

Hackers & Progress

• Hacking is crucial to understandand act in our world

• Best produceris the user

• (S)he can learnto make (almost) anything

• Sharing knowledge freely is the key to innovation

Hacker Ethics

http://makezine.com/2006/12/01/the-makers-bill-of-rights/

[Civic Hacker]

One who collaborates with others to create, build, and invent open source solutions using publicly-released data, code and technology to solve social, economic, and environmental challenges relevant to their neighborhood, city, state, or country.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/civic_hacker

Civic Platforms

What to do?

Value & Teach Coding Skills

Labs (Fab-, Maker, Wet-, Citizen)

Open By Default

Collaborate Across Boundaries

Invite Coders in Governments

Tap into Collective Intelligence

Design for Smarter Cities

• Your citizens know more than you.• Don’t separate the design and development process• Embrace self-organization & civic initiative, but help to make

the results sustainable and scalable.• Never rely on consultants that will sell consultancy, not solutions.• Have binding decisions made at the lowest level possible and

actively preach self-governance.• Small, connected systems tend to fail sometimes; large systems

will fail for sure.• Build systems based on reciprocity and transparency.• Reuse existing parts and design your additions for reuse,

adding to the public domain and strengthening its capacity to act and learn.

https://www.waag.org/nl/blog/design-rules-smarter-cities

Empower Civic Hackers

Empower Civic Hackers

Become

Impact Spiral

http://youngfoundation.org/publications/the-open-book-of-social-innovation/

Smart Cities

Based on Control

Top Down Mind-Frame

Maximize Efficiency

Minimize Friction

Stifle Innovation

http://waag.org/en/blog/smart-cities-make-dumb-citizens

Hackable Cities

Strive to Empower

Embrace Bottom Up

Maximize possibilities

Welcome Friction

Enable Creativity

https://tinyurl.com/illuminated-cities

Inspiration

Sint Antoniesbreestraat 691011 HB Amsterdam

waag.org / info@waag.org

Frank KresinResearch Director@kresin / frank@waag.org