What is a smart city? The term itself is a marketing moniker created by IBM around 2009 to promote the use of big data to local governments. The phrase has been widely adopted ever since, but the reality of smart city technology is more complicated than the branding suggests. We explore how cities use technology throughout the Saving the City documentary series about how to make cities better places.
The promise of the smart city is real. Technology can help solve problems, make delivery of city services more efficient, and give planners data they never had before. But many cities are not equipped to handle the myriad of smart city options in the marketplace. Others see only the upside of smart city solutions while ignoring possible problems around privacy, accountability, and equity.
We filmed a story about the promise and perils of smart city technology centered on San Diego’s surprising experience when the city outfitted 3,200 new streetlights with cameras, sensors, and sound detection devices. What was sold as a smart city infrastructure upgrade quickly raised serious questions about surveillance, data ownership, and who controls the information being collected from public spaces.
The San Diego smart city story is one of the most revealing examples in our entire documentary archive. It shows what happens when a city embraces smart city technology without fully thinking through the implications for the people living in it.
We were particularly taken by an approach espoused by the University of Michigan’s Ben Green, whom we interviewed for the piece. Ben’s book, “The Smart Enough City,” cautions against forgetting about people when looking to improve the urban experience through smart city technology. His argument is not that cities should avoid innovation. It is that smart city solutions should start with human needs, not technology capabilities.
It is a framework that runs through everything Saving the City documents: the best urban planning innovation is the kind that makes life better for the people who actually live in the city.
Meet Jesse Marx, Associate Editor at the Voice of San Diego, on what happened when San Diego’s smart city streetlight program went further than anyone expected. Watch more videos.
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