The case for ... cities that aren't dystopian surveillance states
The case for ... making low-tech 'dumb' cities instead of 'smart' ones
September 2019
'Irrelevant': report pours scorn over Google's ideas for Toronto smart city
Independent panel criticises Sidewalk Labs over ‘frustratingly abstract’ proposals for new tech-oriented neighbourhood
July 2019
Cities from scratch
'The next era of human progress': what lies behind the global new cities epidemic?
The urge to build cities from scratch is not new – but this time they are being conceived by private multinational corporations as gilt-edged tax-exempt gated communities
June 2019
Chips with Everything
"Smart City of Surveillance": Chips with Everything podcast
'Surveillance capitalism': critic urges Toronto to abandon smart city project
May 2019
As surveillance culture grows, can we even hope to escape its reach?
Kenan Malik
The world over, the actions of citizens are being monitored on an unprecedented scale
April 2019
AA sounds safety warning over smart motorways
Removal of hard shoulder on hundreds of miles of road could endanger drivers, it says
February 2019
The smart campus
Are university campuses turning into mini smart cities?
The next 15 megacities
'We have to learn to live with floods': waterlogged Surat to become latest megacity
November 2018
Is the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma using AI to create dystopian cities?
Alfie Bown
News that Ma is a member of Communist party of China should set alarm bells ringing, says author Alfie Bown
October 2018
Tech and the city
The Mexican town that refused to become a smart city
A small town in Mexico was down to be one of the country’s first smart cities – but residents saw it as an attempt to westernise and leave tradition behind
September 2018
Tech and the city
Inside Greece's first smart city: 'Now you don't need to know a politician to get something done'
Trikala, in Greece’s agricultural heartland, is an unlikely candidate for a leading smart city – but innovations have improved lives despite the financial crisis
August 2018
Chips with Everything
The future of smart cities is up for grabs: Chips with Everything podcast
What happens when our smart toaster and smart fridge tech is scaled up to create entire smart cities – and what are the limits to this expansion?
July 2018
Our phones and gadgets are now endangering the planet
John Harris
The energy used in our digital consumption is set to have a bigger impact on global warming than the entire aviation industry, says Guardian columnist John Harris
April 2018
Business made simple
Meet the startup on a mission to eliminate traffic jams
Political science
Smart cities need thick data, not big data
March 2018
'Living laboratories': the Dutch cities amassing data on oblivious residents
In Eindhoven, Utrecht and Assen smart projects are tackling everything from traffic to street crime. But with privacy laws being flouted and commercial companies in on the act, are things as benign as they seem?
July 2017
The City Is Ours review – will vertical forests and smart street lights really save the planet?
Museum of London By 2050, some 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities. How will we cope? This maddeningly random show weighs up some inspired solutions
June 2017
The Audio Long Read
Rise of the machines: who is the ‘internet of things’ good for? – podcast
Interconnected technology is now an inescapable reality – ordering our groceries, monitoring our cities and sucking up vast amounts of data along the way. The promise is that it will benefit us all – but how can it?
The Audio Long ReadRise of the machines: who is the ‘internet of things’ good for? – podcastInterconnected technology is now an inescapable reality – ordering our groceries, monitoring our cities and sucking up vast amounts of data along the way. The promise is that it will benefit us all – but how can it?