We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinking
This paper draws on an experiment in interdisciplinary pedagogy, which took place in the Winter 2019, during a course on “Digital Technology and Society” at the University of Toronto. During the course, the city was chosen as the main source of inquiry. At the core of this experiment was a concern t...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidade Católica Portuguesa
2020-04-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/jsta/article/view/8196 |
| _version_ | 1818490476016173056 |
|---|---|
| author | Roberta Buiani |
| author_facet | Roberta Buiani |
| author_sort | Roberta Buiani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper draws on an experiment in interdisciplinary pedagogy, which took place in the Winter 2019, during a course on “Digital Technology and Society” at the University of Toronto. During the course, the city was chosen as the main source of inquiry. At the core of this experiment was a concern that current models of the city as “Smart City” have become disproportionately skewed towards the implementation of digital technologies, creating monocultural conceptions that prioritize predominantly anthropocentric top-down visions, and neglect the rich more-than-human layers of networks and naturecultural relationships shaping the city today. This concern has been addressed by a number of scholars such as Shannon Mattern (2016, 2017), James Bridle (2018) and Erik Swyngedouw (2006), while alternative views by new materialists such as Jane Bennet (2009), and human geographers Sarah Whatmore (2005) and Ruth Panelli (2010) among others have better addressed the complexities and the multispecies intersections, unfolding within urban conglomerates, and making up the urban techno-cultural fabric. Students were asked to reflect on the following questions: What is a Smart City? How is the city made smart [1]? Who/what makes it so? Is the city a complex system? Preliminary responses to the above questions reflected an exclusive vision oriented towards technological innovation. Introducing a fluid approach based on evidence from direct observation and in vivo exploration, hands on experiments with non-human others, and crossdisciplinary readings, challenged this perspective and nourished a different view of the city as a much richer, complicated and unpredictable entity where biology and information exist in symbiosis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:17:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-468bb3020e70420c96799cf4df7cb342 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1646-9798 2183-0088 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:17:33Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Católica Portuguesa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts |
| spelling | doaj.art-468bb3020e70420c96799cf4df7cb3422022-12-22T01:40:05ZengUniversidade Católica PortuguesaJournal of Science and Technology of the Arts1646-97982183-00882020-04-0112110.34632/jsta.2020.8196We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinkingRoberta Buiani0University of Toronto, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and TechnologyThis paper draws on an experiment in interdisciplinary pedagogy, which took place in the Winter 2019, during a course on “Digital Technology and Society” at the University of Toronto. During the course, the city was chosen as the main source of inquiry. At the core of this experiment was a concern that current models of the city as “Smart City” have become disproportionately skewed towards the implementation of digital technologies, creating monocultural conceptions that prioritize predominantly anthropocentric top-down visions, and neglect the rich more-than-human layers of networks and naturecultural relationships shaping the city today. This concern has been addressed by a number of scholars such as Shannon Mattern (2016, 2017), James Bridle (2018) and Erik Swyngedouw (2006), while alternative views by new materialists such as Jane Bennet (2009), and human geographers Sarah Whatmore (2005) and Ruth Panelli (2010) among others have better addressed the complexities and the multispecies intersections, unfolding within urban conglomerates, and making up the urban techno-cultural fabric. Students were asked to reflect on the following questions: What is a Smart City? How is the city made smart [1]? Who/what makes it so? Is the city a complex system? Preliminary responses to the above questions reflected an exclusive vision oriented towards technological innovation. Introducing a fluid approach based on evidence from direct observation and in vivo exploration, hands on experiments with non-human others, and crossdisciplinary readings, challenged this perspective and nourished a different view of the city as a much richer, complicated and unpredictable entity where biology and information exist in symbiosis.https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/jsta/article/view/8196ComplexityNetworksComputingBiologySuperorganismSlime mould |
| spellingShingle | Roberta Buiani We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinking Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts Complexity Networks Computing Biology Superorganism Slime mould |
| title | We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinking |
| title_full | We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinking |
| title_fullStr | We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinking |
| title_full_unstemmed | We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinking |
| title_short | We have always done it wrong: the city as complex network, superorganism and more-than-human sentient being: An experiment in interdisciplinary [re]thinking |
| title_sort | we have always done it wrong the city as complex network superorganism and more than human sentient being an experiment in interdisciplinary re thinking |
| topic | Complexity Networks Computing Biology Superorganism Slime mould |
| url | https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/jsta/article/view/8196 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robertabuiani wehavealwaysdoneitwrongthecityascomplexnetworksuperorganismandmorethanhumansentientbeinganexperimentininterdisciplinaryrethinking |