1Good morning, everyone, and in this final lecture of the series we turn to the concept of the smart city.
2The term generally refers to urban areas where networks of sensors continuously gather data about traffic, energy and movement.
3Enthusiasts promise that such systems will cut congestion, reduce pollution and make public services dramatically more responsive to citizens.
4Yet the long history of urban planning warns us repeatedly that technological optimism very often outruns genuine social understanding.
5Let me give you a concrete example from a district that was marketed as the city of the future.
6The project was originally scheduled for completion in five years, though it was eventually abandoned after a decade.
7It was not the technology but the governance that ultimately failed, since local residents had never been properly consulted at all.
8Contrary to the promotional material, the sensors did not empower citizens so much as monitor their daily routines.
9What I want to emphasize here is that efficiency is a means, not an end, in urban design.
10A city optimised purely for data may function very smoothly while quietly eroding both privacy and spontaneous public life.
11Moving on to alternatives, some planners now advocate small-scale experiments that are evaluated by the communities they affect most directly.
12In next week's seminar, you will debate whether any large city has genuinely earned the title of smart.