Is the Smart City dream becoming a surveillance nightmare?
Posted November 25, 2021 5:40 am.
Last Updated November 25, 2021 4:33 am.
In today’s Big Story podcast, a few years ago, the world was dotted with proposals for utopian Smart Cities, like Toronto’s Sidewalk Labs. One by one, those ambitious dreams were scaled down or, in the case of Toronto, cancelled altogether. But the technology behind them hasn’t gone away—it’s still being adopted in cities around the world. Only instead of being a part of a complex urban renewal project aimed at sustainability, it’s mostly used for surveillance, by police and other organizations.
What happened to the dream of the smart city — and what are we willing to trade for a little more convenience?
GUEST: Anna Artyushina, research fellow in data governance; Ph.D. Candidate, Science and Technology Studies, York University
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