The Rise of the Smart City

"The Takeaway" podcast, published by WNYC, addresses the "smart cities" buzz this week by asking the question of whether it's smart to live in the city: "Is it dumb to be caught in this urban gridlock, billions of people jammed together in a post-industrial, 21st century mass?" asks host John Hockenberry at the outset of the podcast.

Setting aside the problematic conflation of everything non-rural under the term "urban" (the blog post introducing the podcast says 85 percent of the population will "likely live in a city by the end of the 21st century), the post surveys the fruits of the "smart cities" movement in six segments.

One segment, for instance, considers Hudson Yards as the dawn of New York City's "4th Era." Another segment details the recent victory of Columbus in the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Smart Cities Challenge." One segment addresses the case against smart cities. As with all buzzwords, the great potential envisioned for the "smart city" is not without its risks and reasons for skepticism.