Documentation

Stadtgespräch. Metropolitan Perspectives #18

Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 7 pm
Smart Cities and the End of the Urban Renaissance
Lecture with Florian Rötzer (author and journalist Telepolis, Munich)

Despite the predictions of the digital urbanists in the early 1990s, cities around the world are booming today. They remain the economic and knowledge motors of national societies, but with the rise of the creative classes city centers are changing and new waves of gentrification are taking place. At the same time, digital technologies, above all the Internet, are dramatically changing life and work in cities today. Everything is linked, smart, dependent upon one another and part of clouds: people themselves with their devices, wearables, and vehicles, lofts and buildings, industries and autonomous systems, and finally emerging smart cities with their entire architectural infrastructure. Everything becomes a part of a comprehensive digital system that generates and processes immense masses of data and increasingly controls itself with human-in-the-loop (HITL). Florian Rötzer presents sections from his new book Smart Cities im Cyberwar, showing how the character of the European city is currently undergoing a radical transformation.

After studying philosophy Florian Rötzer worked as a writer and journalist in Munich with a focus on the theory and aesthetics of the media, and has organized numerous international conferences. Since 1996, he has been editor in chief at the online magazine Telepolis and editor of the Telepolis book series and eBook series. Publications include: Die Telepolis. Urbanität im digitalen Zeitalter (1995), Vom Wildwerden der Städte (2006) and his most recent book Smart Cities im Cyberwar (2015).