
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Driverless cars powered by renewable energy whisking their healthy and happy citizens between gleaming skyscrapers, criss-crossing efficient roads. That’s the dream of many so called smart cities.
The trend for ‘smart cities’ has grown immensely over the last decade and their definition has evolved too. Hundreds are planned or are already being built around the world, in both rich and poor countries.
From Google’s Sidewalk city to Eko Atlantic in Nigeria, tech companies are seeking to tame our ever more urban world.
But critics worry that instead of being clever solutions they simply reinforce the existing poverty and inequality. How can a tech giant solve the problems of the developing world when people need water not wifi? We ask, are smart cities dumb?
Presenter: Kavita Puri
Image: Sunrise in New York City
By BBC World Service4.6
695695 ratings
Driverless cars powered by renewable energy whisking their healthy and happy citizens between gleaming skyscrapers, criss-crossing efficient roads. That’s the dream of many so called smart cities.
The trend for ‘smart cities’ has grown immensely over the last decade and their definition has evolved too. Hundreds are planned or are already being built around the world, in both rich and poor countries.
From Google’s Sidewalk city to Eko Atlantic in Nigeria, tech companies are seeking to tame our ever more urban world.
But critics worry that instead of being clever solutions they simply reinforce the existing poverty and inequality. How can a tech giant solve the problems of the developing world when people need water not wifi? We ask, are smart cities dumb?
Presenter: Kavita Puri
Image: Sunrise in New York City

7,913 Listeners

376 Listeners

523 Listeners

863 Listeners

1,067 Listeners

296 Listeners

5,576 Listeners

1,808 Listeners

977 Listeners

586 Listeners

2,113 Listeners

357 Listeners

965 Listeners

410 Listeners

429 Listeners

227 Listeners

841 Listeners

363 Listeners

75 Listeners

471 Listeners

240 Listeners

346 Listeners

235 Listeners

326 Listeners

3,245 Listeners

73 Listeners

689 Listeners

528 Listeners

630 Listeners

394 Listeners

239 Listeners

54 Listeners

80 Listeners

96 Listeners