{"product_id":"dream-states-smart-cities-technology-and-the-pursuit-of-urban-utopias-9781552454282","title":"Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias","description":"\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE 2022 WRITERS' TRUST BALSILLIE PRIZE FOR PUBLIC POLICY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 DONNER BOOK PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE PATTIS FAMILY FOUNDATION GLOBAL CITIES BOOK AWARD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eIs the 'smart city' the utopia we've been waiting for?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe promise of the so-called smart city has been at the forefront of urban planning and development since the early 2010s, and the tech industry that supplies smart city software and hardware is now worth hundreds of billions a year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut the ideas and approaches underpinning smart city tech raise tough and important questions about the future of urban communities, surveillance, automation, and public participation. The smart city era, moreover, belongs firmly in a longer historical narrative about cities -- one defined by utopian ideologies, architectural visions, and technological fantasies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSmart streetlights, water and air quality tracking, autonomous vehicles: with examples from all over the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Portland, and Chicago, \u003ci\u003eDream States\u003c\/i\u003e unpacks the world of smart city tech, but also situates this important shift in city-building into a broader story about why we still dream about perfect places. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"John Lorinc's incisive analysis in \u003ci\u003eDream States\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that the search for urban utopia is not new. Throughout the book, Lorinc underscores the fact that a gamut of urban innovations - from smart city megaprojects to e-government to pandemic preparedness tools - only provide promise when scrutinized together with the political, economic, social, and physical complexities of urban life.\" - Shauna Brail, University of Toronto\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eDream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias\u003c\/i\u003e takes us on a fascinating journey across world cities to show how technology has shaped them in the past and how smart city technology will reshape them in the future. This book is essential reading for policy makers, researchers, and practitioners interested in understanding the opportunities and challenges of smart city technology and what it means for city building.\" - Enid Slack, University of Toronto School of Cities\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\"Utopia may be the oldest grift in the city-building business, but \u003ci\u003eDream States\u003c\/i\u003e shows that technology is a timeless tool for turning the most ordinary of urban dreams - clean air and water, safe streets, and decent homes - into reality. As digital dilettantes try to sell us on a software overhaul, John Lorinc provides us an indispensable and flawless guide to the must-haves and never-agains of the smart city.\" - Anthony Townsend, Urbanist in Residence, Cornell Tech, author of \u003ci\u003eSmart Cities\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn Lorinc is a Toronto freelance journalist and editor. He writes about cities, politics, business, climate change, and local history for various media, including \u003ci\u003eSpacing\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, the \u003ci\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e, the T\u003ci\u003eoronto Star\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Walrus\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCorporate Knights\u003c\/i\u003e, and, previously, the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eReaders' Digest\u003c\/i\u003e. John has won numerous National Magazine Awards for his journalism and was the 2019-20 Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy, which produced a series of ten articles on smart cities that were the basis of \u003ci\u003eDream States\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of three previous books, including \u003ci\u003eThe New City\u003c\/i\u003e (Penguin, 2006), and has co-edited several Coach House uTOpia anthologies, including \u003ci\u003eThe Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood\u003c\/i\u003e (2015) and \u003ci\u003eAny Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer\u003c\/i\u003e (2017).\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Coach House Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50520285806866,"sku":"9781552454282","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5c8b6ae8-fecb-4f86-b305-f89642e7c8ed.jpg?v=1731080010","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/dream-states-smart-cities-technology-and-the-pursuit-of-urban-utopias-9781552454282","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}