Masdar City, Songdo, and PlanIT Valley. Never heard of them? That’s normal - two of these projects never made it beyond the work table. Yet, amongst ‘smart city’ enthusiasts, they are household names. Songdo may have been the only project to materialise into a city, but all these prototypes reflect utopic visions imagined through smart city projects. Sustainability, interconnectivity, and optimisation of services are sworn of this promise land – but do smart cities come with a human rights cost?
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