Creating sticky places: occupy urbanism, digital heritage and decolonisation

Abstract

The dominant perspective on smart-city planning is that it offers technical solutions to everyday urban problems through optimisation and efficiency based on the analysis of data collected on individual behaviours in urban systems. The idea is to develop efficient systems that work in one place and can be applied in others with minor adjustments. Such systems are sold by technology companies, such as Google or Cisco, to cities as a package to assist them with the management of urban flows and resources. The technology companies know which issues concern cities the most - that is, issues such as pollution, waste, congestion, crime and safety - and brief their technical teams to devise products that can address these. When solutions are found, they are presented to mayors and city councils, to housing estate managers and business park leaders, as applications which are fit for purpose and can be implemented in a myriad of different contexts.