Picture of AVIDAC, the first digital computer at Argonne National Laboratory, which began operating in 1953.

 

 

Preface

 

 

This review is not directly related to the previous article about Hartmut Rosa posted on our page. This is more a reflection on the theme of acceleration, Rosa's topic of predilection, in relation to current concerns related to the eventual impacts of new technological devices in urban contexts. Nowadays, the study of the German sociologist and philosopher's written work constitutes an obviously valuable tool for a deeper understanding of our increasingly connected environment.

 

 

~~~

 

 

Actors and thinkers of our cities are currently facing a common challenge: how to reconcile the slow pace of the organic city made of centuries of formation, the fast pace of politics and mandates, and the faster pace of technological progress?

 

 

It takes time to organize the life of our cities. The implementation of these successive attempts of regulation of urban life requires even more time, especially in our democratic societies, due to the complexity of our political instruments, and an extremely active associative field in our cities. This results in a clear desynchronization between politics and the evolution of socio-economic behaviors. These latter are galvanized by new technological devices that provide them an increased autonomy. This phenomenon of conflict or crucial tensions, flapping between various temporalities, is carefully analyzed in the valuable book by Harmut Rosa, "Alienation and Acceleration: Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality”. He establishes the following observation: "Today, politics are no longer perceived as the force giving the pace for social change and social evolution.”

 

 

The “Smart City” currently crystallizes many politicians' dreams and the aspirations of many other supporters of connected technologies on various scales. These aspirations support the project of a city that is both sustainable, ecological, socially appeased, alive, but also deeply monitored and carefully regulated. And it seems very difficult to fulfill such requirements.... The temptation of technological solutionism is to deeply engage the rapid deployment of technological solutions. This last point definitely weighs in favor of “Smart” lovers, as in education, security, health, energy etc. A panel of connected devices from IBM and Cisco should provide a solution for everyone and everything. But these large companies can be accused of a drastic lack of experience in the urban context. The widespread deployment of surveillance cameras in urban space is perhaps the most obvious example of this reckless faith in the intensive use of connected technologies. Today in Paris there is one camera for 200 inhabitants, London is one camera for four. And if the use of these cameras can have a positive effect on the reduction of urban arrests, it is nonetheless a superficial manner to address the problem. This amounts to considering such challenges under a security angle rather than under a social perspective, thus focusing on the effects rather than questionning the source of the tensions resulting from such incivilities (social exclusion, poverty, racism, issues in the education system, family problems etc.).

 

 

Above all, humans should remain at the heart of decision making, as the “smartness” of a city can not be restricted to the density of its technological equipment. Governments must not only learn to combine their efforts, they must collaborate with an ever growing number of actors, and allow more freedom to citizen's initiatives, while preserving themselves from a hyper reliance on technological solutions.

 

 

 

by  Chloé

 

 

 

 

We highly recommend Hartmut Rosa's interview by Claudio Gallo (Social Acceleration and the Need for Speed) published by the Los Angeles Reviews of Books online, as well as:

 

• Alienation and Acceleration: Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality, Nordic Summer University Press, 2010.

 

• Accélération. In : Philippe Zawieja et Franck Guarnieri (coord), Dictionnaire des risques psychosociaux, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 2014.