12.3 Participatory Resilience
259
threats and crises. Centralized systems tend to roll out one solution (the supposedly
“best” one) everywhere, which however undermines diversity. Centralized systems
also violate the modular design principle. They often fail during crises, when help is
needed most. For example, when disasters strike, the regular communication network
and other critical infrastructures often break down.
61
Given the recommended distributed organization, cities (and the regions around
them) are suitable organizational units for a resilient world. In fact, if issues are
regulated locally rather than globally, one will have more degrees of freedom to
find a fitting solution. It is easy to imagine that it largely restricts the freedom of
decision-making and the capacity to act, if people, who live hundreds or thousands
of kilometers away, are trying to interfere with local decisions. Rather than focusing
on regulation, which restricts possibilities, one should focus on responsible empowerment, i.e. empowerment that cares about the impact on others and on nature. So,
how to do this? How can we activate the full potential of cities and the regions around
them?
12.4 Beyond Smart Cities 62
How can we combine Smart Cities with collective intelligence?
63 How can we
empower cities and citizens? How can we turn cities and regions into innovation
motors? How can cities help to make the world more sustainable and resilient?
These are some of the questions discussed in the following.
The dream of building “good cities” is old.
64 Since the twentieth century, there
have been many attempts to create, develop or shape cities, sometimes even from
scratch. Examples range from gigantic modernistic approaches known from Brasilia
and Chandigarh, to more radical, but theoretical concepts aimed at changing society
and engineering social order, such as Ecotopia or the Venus project. Recent developments are driven by the planetary trend towards urbanization, mass migration, and
the need for sustainability. New visions of a global urban future were developed,
such as “Sustainable”, “Eco”, or “Resilient” Cities, typically based on a top-down
approach to the design of urban habitats.
Cities created from scratch heavily depend on massive private investments, for
example, Songdo in South Korea or Lavasa in India. Despite ambitious goals and
many technological innovations, their long-term success cannot be taken for granted,
as they are often conceived by urban planners without the participation of people
61 Helbing et al. [30].
62 This and the following sections contain materials from the joint manuscript “Open Source
Urbanism: Beyond Smart Cities” that Sergei Zhilin and I have written some time ago, see https://
futurict.blogspot.com/2018/11/open-source-urbanism-beyond-smart-cities.html.
63 Using the Wisdom of Crowds to Make Cities Smarter, FuturICT Blog (March 28, 2019) https://
futurict.blogspot.com/2019/03/using-wisdom-of-crowds-to-make-cities.html.
64 Sennett [31].
259
threats and crises. Centralized systems tend to roll out one solution (the supposedly
“best” one) everywhere, which however undermines diversity. Centralized systems
also violate the modular design principle. They often fail during crises, when help is
needed most. For example, when disasters strike, the regular communication network
and other critical infrastructures often break down.
61
Given the recommended distributed organization, cities (and the regions around
them) are suitable organizational units for a resilient world. In fact, if issues are
regulated locally rather than globally, one will have more degrees of freedom to
find a fitting solution. It is easy to imagine that it largely restricts the freedom of
decision-making and the capacity to act, if people, who live hundreds or thousands
of kilometers away, are trying to interfere with local decisions. Rather than focusing
on regulation, which restricts possibilities, one should focus on responsible empowerment, i.e. empowerment that cares about the impact on others and on nature. So,
how to do this? How can we activate the full potential of cities and the regions around
them?
12.4 Beyond Smart Cities 62
How can we combine Smart Cities with collective intelligence?
63 How can we
empower cities and citizens? How can we turn cities and regions into innovation
motors? How can cities help to make the world more sustainable and resilient?
These are some of the questions discussed in the following.
The dream of building “good cities” is old.
64 Since the twentieth century, there
have been many attempts to create, develop or shape cities, sometimes even from
scratch. Examples range from gigantic modernistic approaches known from Brasilia
and Chandigarh, to more radical, but theoretical concepts aimed at changing society
and engineering social order, such as Ecotopia or the Venus project. Recent developments are driven by the planetary trend towards urbanization, mass migration, and
the need for sustainability. New visions of a global urban future were developed,
such as “Sustainable”, “Eco”, or “Resilient” Cities, typically based on a top-down
approach to the design of urban habitats.
Cities created from scratch heavily depend on massive private investments, for
example, Songdo in South Korea or Lavasa in India. Despite ambitious goals and
many technological innovations, their long-term success cannot be taken for granted,
as they are often conceived by urban planners without the participation of people
61 Helbing et al. [30].
62 This and the following sections contain materials from the joint manuscript “Open Source
Urbanism: Beyond Smart Cities” that Sergei Zhilin and I have written some time ago, see https://
futurict.blogspot.com/2018/11/open-source-urbanism-beyond-smart-cities.html.
63 Using the Wisdom of Crowds to Make Cities Smarter, FuturICT Blog (March 28, 2019) https://
futurict.blogspot.com/2019/03/using-wisdom-of-crowds-to-make-cities.html.
64 Sennett [31].