On Technology's Place in the City
Technology is not inherently good or bad. How we use it makes all the difference.
Several years ago, I heard author and speaker Andy Crouch give a talk about the shift we’ve seen in culture from technology as a tool to technology as a device.
Tools, as Crouch put it, extend human capacities in some way, but require a certain amount of skill, effort, attention, or commitment to get their benefits.
Devices, he says, give us everything that tools give us, but without requiring skill, effort, or risk.
In short: tools help us in our work, while devices seek to replace our work in part or altogether.
Crouch acknowledges that different technologies, such as the internet or smartphones, can be either tools or devices.
But if we want cities that facilitate skill, effort, attention, and commitment, we need to implement technologies as tools, not devices.
MIT Technology Review recently highlighted the failures of Sidewalk Labs in building a smart city in Toronto, and this “tool vs. device” framework is pertinent as we seek to de-fetishize the present obsession with smart cities and technology when it comes to city-building.
Technology has a place in the city, but car-centric streets and development models are tangible proof of what happens when we put the technological cart before the horse. We end up designing for technology, rather than designing for the people the technology is meant to assist.
That even one of the most technologically savvy institutions in the world is acknowledging this is a reason for hope. There’s a movement afoot to put technology in its rightful place in the city.
As future innovations and advancements come about, we should learn from the mistakes created by the fixation on the automobile and apply those lessons to future tech.
One Thing to Get Excited About:
One of my greatest hopes for this weekly newsletter is that it helps you fall in love with the amount of agency you have to make a difference.
You may not be able to unilaterally solve climate change or eradicate all traffic deaths, but there is potential in every human being, including you, to do tremendous things.
If you want to see this in action, look no further than Franziska Trautmann, who is turning shattered glass from beer bottles back into sand, which is being used to help rebuild the New Orleans coastline.
Urbanism discourse often has an air of perfectionism to it, but Trautmann’s Glass Half Full NOLA recycling center is a testament to the power of using imperfect - even shattered - things to make somewhere better.
One Action to Get You Started:
There’s an intersection near the Lowe’s in my town that is an absolute dumpster fire.
It’s a “2.5-way stop”, where cars coming from two directions have stop signs, cars on the main road do not, but cars on that road that wish to turn also must stop (and would know this if you could still read the faded white paint).
Just about every time I drive by, there’s an odds-on chance of seeing at least one near-accident.
For all the planning faux pas in my city, it’s the one most etched in my brain. The intersection may not be the most egregious flaw in the city’s traffic patterns, but it’s up there.
You probably something like this in your city: whether it’s the town’s biggest problem or not, it’s one that uniquely stands out to you above the rest and really gets your goat.
This week, I want you to bring it up to the most relevant public official. Whether that’s the mayor’s office, your city council member, or the local planning department, drop them a note raising your concerns in a respectful way and see what happens.
And maybe mention the problem to friends or family and see if they feel the same way. If they do and you can convince them to write in as well, you’ve just become an advocacy leader in three easy steps.
One Resource to Check Out:
It’s always good to have a mental or digital swipefile handy of great design. It allows you to look at places in your own city and have inspiration for what they could become.
The Twitter account Queen Anne Greenways recently solicited followers to share the prettiest bike lane in their own towns, and the comments produced some images you’ll want to add to your swipe file for future inspiration.