Smart bins, big screens, artificial intelligence, social media driven decision making, drones, big data, autonomous cars, buses and trucks and the list would go on- are we finally getting the city of our dreams? Or are we moving away from what is really important to us as human beings?
Smart Cities need to be good for people too
Back in 1983, the LA Times Magazine shared a cover image about the city of the future. It was exciting, it was visionary… and none of it happened. Unfortunately for Los Angeles the city looks pretty much the same as it did in ’83, but with more roads, more cars and more problems. It is generally a less welcoming place for human beings.
The LA Times Magazine missed the really salient point about the change to come; that it wasn’t the hard infrastructure of cities that would look different, it was the soft infrastructure that was going to really change.
With the rising interest in Smart Cities, and the excitement being generated by new technologies, can we risk getting it wrong again?
Smart bins, big screens, artificial intelligence, social media driven decision making, drones, big data, autonomous cars, buses and trucks… are we finally getting the city of our dreams? Or are we moving away from what is really important to us as human beings?
A recent study by Place Score with Hawkesbury City Council of 1710 local residents, workers and visitors asked what was most important to them in their ideal town centre.
The top three place attributes (out of 50) are shown below.
Kylie Legge © 2019
CEO, Place Score