VOICES MICHAEL KEITH Brave new world


Professor Michael Keith, co-ordinator of the ESRC Urban Transformations programme, reflects on how urban life and cities are changing, what is influencing change, and what social science can tell us about the cities of the future


If you had to select three fundamental issues that cities in the UK and internationally are grappling with, what would they be and why? Technological lock in: We inherit the city our parents leave us – the transport systems that favour the car; the sewage systems made to combat cholera rather than value the resources of clean water they waste, the historical failure to minimise the ecological footprint of the city. Understanding the consequences of these forms of technological lock-in is central to making the 21st-century city able to adapt to new pressures of environment and economy. Social justice and inequality: There is a moral


obligation to ask for whom the city is being refashioned, understand the consequences of technological and economic dynamism, and recognise, contest and reform the ethical basis of city life.


“ The ability of the first lift to carry


large numbers of people to new heights revolutionised architecture


Economic flexibility: As the pace of economic change accelerates the propensity of the city to reinvent itself, to flex its economic and social infrastructure is never more important. What role does social science play in addressing these issues? We might think of a spectrum that runs between technocratic knowledge and critical thought. Social sciences at one end of this spectrum gather the


”


The smallest changes in the technological configuration of the city can


generate entirely new ways of living in the city


data, model the system and provide knowledge of economic specalisation, technological expertise and analytical precision that improve the working of the machine of the city. At the same time, at the other end of this spectrum theory and empirical investigation explore the consequences of the architecture of the machine, who the winners and losers are, and provide a way to think differently about alternative urban futures.


A lot of current interest focuses on Smart Cities and the opportunities afforded by new technologies. What is the potential of these opportunities? And what benefits might they bring to the public? The generation of swathes of new information, big data and an ‘internet of things’ provides very different ways for understanding cities and the relation between the human and the non-human. At the same time buzz phrases and popular concepts such as smart cities, eco cities, digital cities, or liveable cities become ‘brands’ in their own right, used to rationalise particular urban interventions. So when we look at the attempt to create a number of smart cities in a location such as contemporary India we need to understand both the technological potential of what might be possible and the economic and political dynamics of how such transformation is realised. Will changing transport habits have a big effect on urban design? How will a community full of driverless cars feel different?


One thing we know from the history of technological innovation is that the smallest changes in the configuration of the city can generate entirely new ways of living in the city. The ability of the first lift to carry large numbers of people to new heights revolutionised architecture. The air conditioner made possible urban concentrations in hot regions such as the American South that were previously hostile. But many of the consequences of technological innovation are rarely understood in full at their time of introduction. Contrary to predictions, the rise of the internet and digital communications didn’t spell the end of the city but an even greater concentration of people, journeys, face-to-face meetings and sociality. So we are sure that changing transport habits will have a major impact on future urban design but we would be foolish to make simplistic predictions. The possible arrival of driverless cars is just one example where the consequences of technological innovation on culture and society demand an interdisciplinary approach.


26 SOCIETY NOW SPRING 2015


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