SMART CITY BULLSHIT

I’m tired of hearing the propaganda.

The “smart city” has become an ideology — one that puts engineering above architecture, urban planning, design, and even the ethics and responsibility of those shaping our cities.

Yes — technologies can make urban life better:

• Energy-efficient street lighting.

• Apps for bike-sharing or e-mobility.

• Futuristic panels that “clean the air” with algae.

All fine. All useful.

But without a structural vision — I’d say infrastructural — of how we rethink our cities, this is just digital greenwashing.

Like planting trees on rooftops and calling it “urban nature.”

Like installing sensors and pretending we’ve solved mobility.

If there’s no cultural paradigm shift — no rethinking of land, water, mobility, public space, and governance — the “smart city” risks becoming a distraction from what matters most: the city as a living, equitable, ecological system.

A city isn’t “smart” because it’s connected by data.

It’s smart when it’s connected by life.

📘 Full BOOK here: Urban Nature is Not a Decoration

https://www.francescoprocacci.com/product-page/urban-nature-is-not-a-decoration

Thanks for your support!!!