Artificial intelligence and the city

Abstract

"Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming cities in unprecedented ways which go beyond smart urbanism. Drawing upon a range of urban disciplines and over 20 international case studies, this book explores in theory and practice how AI intersects with and alters the city. The chapters reveal a multitude of repercussions that AI is having on urban society, urban infrastructure, urban governance, urban planning and urban sustainability. At the same time, this collection examines how the city, far from being a passive recipient of new technologies, is influencing and reframing AI through subtle processes of co-constitution. Overall, the book advances three main contributions and arguments. First, it provides empirical evidence of the emergence of a post-smart trajectory for cities in which new material and decision-making capabilities are being assembled through multiple AIs. Second, it stresses the importance of understanding the mutually constitutive relations between the new experiences enabled by AI technology and the urban context. Third, it engages with the concepts required to clarify the opaque relations that exist between AI and the city, as well as how to make sense of these relations from a theoretical perspective. In essence, this collection offers a state-of-the-art analysis and review of AI urbanism, from its roots to its global emergence"--