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Tracey Lauriault

Artengine's Future Cities Forum

Dr. Tracey Lauriault addresses an engaging discussion on the evolving concept of smart cities at the Artengine’s Future Cities forum. Dr. Lauriault, a professor from Carleton University with affiliations to notable research initiatives such as the Programmable City Project, presents her collaborative work on defining smart cities under the Open Smart Cities Project in Canada, funded by Natural Resources Canada. This project engages a multidisciplinary team, including researchers from the University of Toronto and members from the Canadian Internet Public Policy Interest Clinic.

During her presentation, Dr. Lauriault proposes a critical examination of “networked urbanism,” where cities are enhanced with technological infrastructures, big data, and the Internet of Things to manage urban life dynamically. She questions the prevailing efficiency-driven models that often overlook the socio-economic and privacy concerns inherent in the digital management of city spaces. Dr. Lauriault emphasizes the importance of making smart cities inclusive, equitable, and responsive to the needs of all citizens, rather than serving as exclusive enclaves for the privileged.

Her talk also explores international examples, highlighting a smart city project in the Philippines as a caution against designing urban spaces that exclude the socio-economically disadvantaged. She urges for a participatory approach in smart city governance, where technology serves the populace rather than dictates their lifestyle. By fostering a culture of technological literacy and civic participation, Dr. Lauriault envisions smart cities that prioritize human values over technological advancements, ensuring that urban developments are sustainable, inclusive, and reflective of collective urban life aspirations.

A trio of keynote speakers kicked-off the Future Cities Forum including science-fiction writer and futurist Madeline Ashby, urban designer Ken Greenberg, and professor Tracey Lauriault, a researcher who specializes in big data and the city.

This diverse group shared their speculations on future cities in the context of emerging and disruptive technologies. How will and can we adapt the key lessons of urban design of the twentieth century and not be seduced by the same techno-utopianism that shaped cities in the past? As we are transformed and extended into the network, how will a citizen be in public or private in our new data-driven city? Who will be the heroes and anti-heroes of the cities to come?

Dr. Tracey Lauriault is a critical data studies scholar who works on open data, big data, open smart cities, open government, data sovereignty, data preservation and data governance. Her ongoing research includes disaggregated equity data, digital twins, intersectional approaches to data governance, data invisibilities and the history of the census. As a publicly engaged scholar, she mobilizes her research into data and technology policy in all sectors. As a data and technological citizen, she examines large and small complex systems with the hope of making them more just, inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable.

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