Programming Nature as Infrastructure in the Smart Forest City.

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Article
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Abstract

Smart cities typically involve the digitalization of transport and buildings, energy and communications. Yet urban natures are also becoming increasingly digitalized, whether through processes of monitoring, automation, mitigation, or augmentation. This text considers what "splintering urbanisms" materialize through programming nature as infrastructure. By focusing specifically on smart urban forests, I suggest that the management logics of smart infrastructures attempt to program and transform vegetation and its ecologies into uniquely efficient and responsive urban organisms. In the process, these programs of efficiency have the potential to exacerbate extractive economies and social inequalities that amplify and materialize through the "Internet of nature."

Publication Date
2022
Online Publication Date
2022-01-06
Acceptance Date
2021-06-17
Keywords
Smart cities, digital infrastructure, green infrastructure, smart environments, smart forests, sustainable cities
Journal Title
J Urban Technol
Journal ISSN
1063-0732
1466-1853
Volume Title
29
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Sponsorship
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (866006)
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 866006).