The Forgotten City: How Big Tech, Bad Government, and General Distraction Are Threatening Humanity’s Greatest Achievement

We all want cities, where more than half of the world’s population currently live, to be just, successful, clean, fair, green, sustainable, safe, healthy and affordable. Will ‘smart cities’ help achieve these aspirations or undermine them in the time of COVID-19?

Phil Allmendinger, a world expert on cities, development, and urban governance, takes a critical approach to the role of ‘smart’ in future cities and the relationship with city development. Considering how technology can support active citizenship, he challenges the commercial drivers of big tech and warns that these, not developments for ‘social good’, may dominate.

Focusing on the dangers posed by social media, the platform economy and AI, he sets out what those making decisions on city development need to understand in order to save the planet through active politics and healthy cities.

Phil Allmendinger is Professor of Land Economy and Fellow of Clare College at the University of Cambridge. From 2015 – 2020 he was Head of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences and Deputy Vice Chancellor. Phil is a chartered planner and surveyor and advises governments around the world on future cities, urban issues and smart city development. He is the author of numerous books and papers on these issues.